The Blackness 2: Shady
by Fence Surfin
Summary: Something of a sequal to "The Blackness." Nico is unhappy in the relationship, and considers calling it quits. Includes serpents, underwater fornication, and blue soup. Complete!
1. Trouble in Paradise

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson & the Olympians. It belongs to Rick Riordan and the people who helped him make this book series possible. I am not making any money off of this fan fiction.  
>~*~*~<p>Nico was resting his forehead on the end of his pen as he listened to the professor talk about pre-World War II America. He'd already been reprimanded twice for enhancing the knowledge of his professor, who didn't know Nico had lived through those times, so he had just decided to tune out. His mind of course wandered to Percy. He hadn't seen his boyfriend in months. Always busy chasing this half-blood down, or on that adventure with Annabeth and Grover. Nico understood that Percy was more accepting of his family lineage than he was, and didn't expect him to come to college with him, but sometimes he wondered why they were even together at all. When the younger man wasn't studying, he was in the Underworld doing his father's bidding, so even when Percy had the time to be with him Nico couldn't reciprocate. Still... he loved the fish for brains warrior and kept telling himself that eventually things would calm down and they could be together for an extended period of time. He heard the sound of books closing and focused back on reality. Students were leaving the classroom as others filtered in. It was the last class of his day, so he leisurely left it to the other, more eager listeners.<p>

He walked to one of his hiding spaces to shadow travel back to his home in the Underworld. Home, he scoffed. Every day the vast Underworld was feeling smaller and smaller and Nico was itching to get out. He knew he'd always have to come back for this or that his father needed doing; he was really the only outside player Hades had, but he also wanted to establish himself as his own man, with his own things to be done and his own home and just... his own something. Even his boyfriend didn't seem to be exclusively his. Percy was always with those other two, or at camp, or doing something that he knew Nico couldn't be a part of. Nico sighed. He felt like a selfish child with the way he was bitching about a perfectly lovely life, but he had the right to feelings and he was going to feel them. Sometimes it felt like he didn't even miss Percy, and that scared him most of all. It made him nauseous to think about it further, so he put on his trusty giant headphones and used some guy's screaming and hard hitting breakdowns to fill his mind as he dissipated into the shadows.

A few weeks later, the last day of the semester, to be exact, Nico was taking his aggression out on the snow. He was stomping his way to class, purposely leaving the sidewalk to destroy the delicate frosted crust that had formed on top of the white powdery snow. Destroying something somehow made him feel better, though he wasn't sure why he was in a bad mood in the first place. He was about to stomp on a nice little mound of snow someone had made the day before when a tanned, furry boot took the pleasure away from him. He looked up just in time to see a blonde freshman girl skitting away to join her friends, laughing as if she had done something oh so scandalous. Nico resisted the urge to envelop her in a column of flames and turned his music up, continuing to stomp his way to class, though it was now less satisfying.

This particular class always helped him feel better. It was an earth science class. While most of the other students were bored stiff, Nico loved learning about everything his father had an influence over. In a way, it helped him understand himself better as well. Sure, the professor wasn't his favorite guy, but he could get over that. All he needed to do was pass this class, and he was one step further to doing what he wanted. A few hours later he found himself in his dreaded history class. In his opinion, the fact that he had passed his GED's history section should have meant that he didn't need to go over it again, but college was rigged that way, he'd discovered. Instead of his typcial leisurely stroll out of class, he was gone as soon as the professor had said that class was over. He wasn't sure what he was going to do to fix his bad mood, but he knew that staying there wasn't it. He was practically running to his secret spot, taking minor delight in ruining the pristine sheet of snow with his boots, when he suddenly paused. Had he heard his name? He turned around, wondering if he had left his book in his haste to leave. He wasn't expecting to see Percy running toward him and stood frozen, unsure of what to do. As his boyfriend approached he felt a strange kind of panic inside. He told himself that it was excitement at seeing his lover after so long.

"Nico... hi." Percy said, somewhat breathless, "Why did you pick a school at such a high altitude?" he gasped.

Nico's heart twitched at Percy's vulnerable look and reached out to rub the taller man's back. Physical contact felt strange after so long, but so familiar, too. "Less monsters up here." he finally answered. By then Percy had recovered and smiled a little before moving in to kiss his boyfriend. Nico felt that panic again, but let it happen. Kissing was nice. He told himself not to get too cozy; Percy would be gone all too soon, but for the first time in a while, he felt so warm. He kissed Percy again, reaching up to hold his face there for a moment. Percy took the hint and they slowly made out for a few minutes.

"What are you doing here?" the younger man finally asked.

"I came to see my Nico, duh." Percy said, grabbing the other's hands.

Black eyes looked up into green ones, "How long?"

"As long as I can."

Nico looked away. He didn't like that answer, but knew Percy was doing the best that he could. "Did you know that today is the last day of my classes for a while?"

"No. I was going to try to get you to skip a day or two."

"No way. I'm a genius and would like to stay that way." and he didn't want Percy to think that he could just drop everything whenever his lover felt like it, but he wasn't going to say that.

Percy smiled, "Well I love my genius boyfriend, so I'm willing to wait until you're finished with class today before I smother you."

Nico's stomach turned for some strange reason, but he ignored it, "I just had my last class." Percy smiled and gave him a look that said, 'Really?' so Nico grabbed his hand, "Come get some soup with me." His boyfriend wasn't one to argue with Nico's random requests, so he followed him through the snow, ignoring the fact that his sneakers were soaked and his feet were freezing. He could fix that once he was inside. They walked several blocks without saying anything. Percy was getting a strange vibe from Nico, but then he was typically a stand-offish person. Not so much to Percy, though. Had he done something wrong? Still... Nico had kissed him in that needing way that he always did, so he can't be in too much trouble, right? Before he could think further they had arrived in a smallish little place, and he was glad to be warm again.

They sat down on two spinning seats at the counter. The place was decorated like an old soda shop, so Percy was wondering why they had gone there for soup. A man with golden hair maybe in his late thirties appeared from the back, looking tired until he spotted the two men.

"Hello Nico. Creamy potato, or brocolli cheese?" The man asked.

"Creamy potato for me aaaand..." he looked at Percy, "Do you like sourdough bread?"

"It's okay I guess." Percy answered, wondering what bread had to do with soup.

"Potato or brocolli?"

"Um... potato?"

The man nodded and wrote it down, then looked at them again, "Anything to drink this time around?"

"I don't know why, but I really want chocolate milk." Nico said, then turned to Percy again.

"Um... soda?"

"What kind, sweetie?"

"Bah, I don't know." Percy said. He had never been good at ordering. Something about the pressure of deciding.

"I'll surprise you." the man said and then turned to leave.

"Come here often?" Percy asked.

"Yeah. Even though it's 50's themed, it still kind of reminds me of 'home' you know? Besides, Derek's malts are the bomb."

Percy laughed, "Man I missed you and your attempts at using today's lingo." he said and kissed Nico's cheek.

Nico gave his little half smile, "I missed you doting on my epic awesomeness." Shit, he could feel himself getting attached to Percy again. He really had missed him.

"Ah I love it." Percy wrapped his arm around Nico's waist. He almost took it away when the man called Derek came back in, but Nico leaned into him, letting him know that it was okay. Derek set down the drinks first and Percy saw that his soda was blue. How had Derek known that? Then a bread bowl filled with blue soup was placed in front of him.

"No way." he said and looked at Nico for answers.

"Derek is a son of Hestia." Nico said.

"That and Nico talks about you a lot." Derek said, leaning on the counter.

"Derek's dating a son of Apollo." Nico said as he unwrapped his straw.

The man rolled his eyes, "I fell for his dancing, what can I say?" he stood straight again and Nico handed him some money in drachma form.

"Is this place demigod exclusive or something?" Percy asked, stirring his blue soup.

"Occasionally mortals manage to stumble in, but only on accident, and I'm happy to serve them, but I do try to serve a certain clientele." Derek said, handing Nico his change. "I'll be in the back so that you two can catch up. It sounds like Nico hasn't seen you in a while." he winked and then left the two men alone.

Nico ate some of his soup and licked his spoon, "I do love me some soup." he said. Percy tried some as well. He wasn't usually a soup kind of guy, but this was good and it helped warm him up.

"Derek's been known to add a special ingredient when I need it." Nico said, eating some more.

"You make ambrosia sound like a drug."

"Well, it kind of is when you think about it."

"I guess."

They continued eating their soup for a while, and Nico kept wanting to hold Percy's hand, but he couldn't let himself do that, so he satisfied himself with leaning his thigh against the other man's. The door opened and the blonde freshman walked in.

"Daughter of Aphrodite." Nico muttered, "She's always bugging me."

"She probably likes you." Percy teased.

"Of course she does. Too bad she can't accept the fact that I like penis."

Percy laughed, "Maybe she has one."

"I highly doubt she's a hermaphrodite." Nico said, then the two men looked at each other and laughed as they realized the joke in 'hermAPHRODITE'. As they ate, a few more students came in. Nico was able to tell Percy which gods most of them belonged to, and also pointed out the oblivious humans. Percy found it strange to eat your soup bowl, but he wasn't one to waste food, so he followed Nico's example and tore it to pieces. He couldn't eat it all, though.

"That's fine. Derek has a pet in the back that will take care of it." Nico said.

"Do you and Derek hang out a lot or something?"

"No. This is just my choice dinner location, and we have good conversation when it's not busy. Why, jealous?"

"Maybe." Percy blushed.

Nico kissed his cheek and stood up, "Where to now?"

Percy thought for a moment, "You're on vacation, right?"

"Yup. Three weeks of light study and heavy petting."

"Would you be opposed to checking out Atlantis with me?"

"Won't I drown?"

Percy snickered, "Of course not."

"O-Okay." Nico was a little bit nervous. Percy hadn't exactly been welcome in the Underworld when he visted, and the thought of the unknown, plus being under a jillion pounds of water had him biting his lip.

"You'll be okay." Percy kissed Nico's forehead, "I promise."

"Let me get packed real quick." Nico started to walk over to the restroom. For a moment Percy wondered why he kept his stuff in a bathroom, then he realized that Nico was going in there to shadow travel, just in case a mortal was in the soda shop.

"Want to come with?" Nico asked.

"Duh." Sure, Percy wasn't a big fan of shadow traveling, but he wanted to be with Nico as much as possible.

x.x.x.x.x

"Nico? Nico! Wake up!"

Black eyes opened and he focused on the strange fish floating above him. The thought had him feeling faint again. How embarassing. He had arrived in Atlantis, only to have a claustrophobic panic attack and pass out. Now everyone probably thought he was some kind of pansy. He forced himself to sit up and look tough, even though his head was still swimming, for lack of a better word. Poseidon was looking at him warily, Percy had concern in his eyes, and Tyson had curiosity blinking in his one eye.

"You ok?" Percy asked.

"Of course." Nico said, shaking off the last of his nausea. He looked around. He was in a very ornate hallway on a blue striped fainting couch.

"I've got to go, son. You two don't go getting into trouble, okay?" Poseidon said, speaking to Percy, but watching Nico. "Come along, Tyson."

When the two were alone again Percy sat next to his boyfriend, "You scared the shit out of me, Nico." he said quietly.

"Sorry. I didn't even know that I could get that freaked out."

"Well just try and relax." Percy rested his head on Nico's for a moment, "Want me to carry you to my room?"

"No! I've made a big enough fool of myself already."

"Come on, they don't think you're weak. Don't be like that."

Nico stood up, "I appreciate what you're trying to do, but it's my pride, not yours."

"Okay." Percy stood up and picked up Nico's duffle bag, "Follow me."

They went down the hallway and Nico watched the ceiling, which was transparent and showed all of the strange creatures swimming around at the bottom of the sea. Percy opened a doorway at the end of the hallway and they stepped inside. It was smaller than Nico would have imagined, but it was round, which was kind of cool. A large bed with a plush blue comforter was directly in front of them. After Nico's little fainting spell, the bed looked incredibly inviting. No, he wanted to look strong, and taking a nap was not the way to do it.

"Your bedroom's boss, but can I get the tour?" Nico asked. It felt strange to be in Percy's room under the sea. He felt like he didn't belong in there.

"As long as you promise not to use the word 'boss' in that way again."

"You never let me have fun with my vocabulary." Nico pouted.

Percy kissed his forehead, "Yes I do. I just don't want you sounding silly with some of your terminology."

"Whatevs." Nico rolled his eyes.

Percy really really wanted to ban that word as well, but he decided to let Nico have that one... for now. He led the smaller man out of the room and down the hall, pointing out pieces of art or a cool fish as it swam by. Nico still looked more pale than usual, but seemed to be perking up... well as much as his brooding lover ever did.

A few hours later they were returning to Percy's room. The younger man looked around.

"Where's your shower?"

Percy pointed to a door at his right. He made to follow Nico, but the smaller man shook his head.

"Come on, Nico. Don't let those people make you feel bad."

As they had toured the city, the locals had given the couple glares and a few had even closed the doors to their shops right in the men's faces. It seemed the people of the sea didn't like having a son of Hades in their prescence. One woman had asked Nico why he wanted to bring death to their world.

"It's not just them..." Nico whispered. He didn't want to sound like he was whining to Percy, so he stopped his sentence, "I'll feel better after a shower, k?"

"I want to come with you." Percy said, giving Nico a pleading green eyed stare.

That was the first and last thing that Nico wanted. He needed Percy, but just couldn't let himself enjoy his company too much. It would make parting just too painful. He had to remain distant.

"Sorry. I just need to think."

Percy pouted, "Fine."

Nico walked into the bathroom and removed his shirt before throwing it at Percy and closing the door. Percy listened to the water turn on and sat impatiently on his bed. He could tell that Nico was holding himself back and he wanted to know why. Maybe he didn't like him anymore. No, Percy could tell in little ways that Nico still cared about him. Still... maybe he had fallen in love with someone else. With Derrick? No, that wasn't it, either. Percy chewed his lip in frustration. Frustration. Maybe Nico just needed something to loosen him up.

Percy walked over to the closed door of the bathroom and leaned against it. He concentrated on the water in the shower. He could feel the droplets falling onto Nico's skin. He used his power to move the water falling to the bottom of the bathtub up Nico's legs, carressing his skin. He heard Nico gasp through the door and smiled. He then concentrated again and had the water continue up Nico's legs and over his chest and arms. He heard splashes and then Nico say quietly.

"Percy, please stop."

Nico was pushing the offending water off of his skin, actually dreading it coming up any higher on his legs. He felt relieved when Percy obeyed him, the water lifelessly splashing to the bottom of the tub.

Percy slid down the wall next to the door. The tone of Nico's voice made him feel terrible. It made him feel like he had tried to violate Nico, and he wasn't that kind of guy. What was up with his boyfriend, anyway? It was really starting to worry the warrior. A few moments later the door opened and Nico stepped out in only boxers and a towel around his shoulders.

"I forgot pajamas." Nico said in that same quiet tone of voice, like a slapped child who was afraid to get into more trouble.

Percy stood up and went over to his dresser. He pulled out a cerulean shirt that was too big for himself and handed it to Nico. The smaller man put it on and threw the towel into the bathroom before facing Percy. He suddenly couldn't resist and hugged his lover. Percy was confused at Nico's behavior, but hugged him back in earnest.

"I'm tired." Nico said, wanting this trange situation to be over. Maybe he'd feel normal tomorrow.

"You can go to bed." Percy said, gently leading Nico over to the bed. He pulled back the covers and Nico laid down. Percy turned off the light and then walked over to the other side of the bed and stripped down to his boxers before getting into bed beside the smaller body. He thought that Nico was already asleep, but as soon as he had settled comfortably the colder body curled up away from him.

"I love you, Percy." Nico said, barely audible, before his body went slack.

"I love you, too." Percy replied, though he had a feeling that Nico hadn't heard him.

x.x.x.x

"It's so weird seeing you in color." Percy said the next morning, "I kind of like it."

"It's just so... bright." Nico lifted the cerulean night shirt to remove it.

"Could I convince you to maybe wear navy someday?"

Nico gave his little half smile, "Maybe on your birthday." he said and then pulled on a black and white graphic tee. Percy took the half smile as a victory and then let himself fawn over how cute Nico looked today. But then, he thought his boyfriend looked cute all the time. Nico was still his distant self, remaining generally quiet and nearly shying away from the older boy's affections. Percy decided that if Nico was still acting that way by dinner, he would have to ask about it. His stomach turned at the idea of confrontation.

They shared a small breakfast in the palace before leaving it to explore the city some more. A few of the residents had something to say about the couple, but otherwise kept to themselves.

"This is so... normal." Nico said, watching everyone as they passed by. "I was expecting something more... mermaidy."

"It's that way if you go outside a certain area. This way we get to relax and do mortal things without having to go to the surface."

"Cool."

"So Nico, I-"

"What is *that*?" Nico asked just as a large shadow passed over them. Percy looked over to see what looked like a giant serpent swimming around the perimeter of their "bubble" enclosure.

"That's a leviathan. Don't worry; he just gets attracted to the light of our city sometimes, but he usually figures out that we're not food and leaves pretty soon."

"Hmm..." Nico said, not convinced of his safety.

"Anyway, I was going to ask you about something." Percy said, looking back over at his lover.

The younger man gave him a nervous look, "Yes?"

"Since I came and got you I've felt like sometimes you don't like me anymore."

Nico leaned against the rubbery surface of whatever force was keeping the water away, "Of course I like you, Percy. I love you, actually."

"Then why do I feel like you'd rather I left you alone?"

"It's nothing."

"No." Percy said firmly, "Fuck that. You're going to tell me what your problem is." his voice softened, "You can tell me, Nico, even if it'll break my heart."

Nico looked at him. He'd never thought about his behavior really hurting Percy; that his lover might think he'd found someone else. He sighed and stood up straight, looking at Percy.

"The thing is that I'm selfish."

Percy laughed, "What?"

Nico was about to elaborate when the wall vibrated. They both looked at each other and then at the bubble. Suddenly they heard screaming and crashes. Now in warrior mode, they would talk later. They both took off running toward the screaming and Nico stopped in his tracks as he watched the leviathan slithering through the bubble wall. It was crushing the buildings in its way, and Nico watched as people ran away, vacating the various shops just before they were demolished.

Percy was watching the carnage as well, but he continued running toward the creature, Riptide in hand. In a leap of faith he lunged forward and stabbed the leviathan. The serpent screamed in pain and rounded on Percy, snapping its jaws at the warrior. Percy managed the climb up the body and stabbed the creature in the back of the head, and it stilled for a moment. The son of Poseidon was waiting for it to turn into gold dust when the serpent undulated, tossing Percy to the ground. Percy watched helplessly as the serpent's tail swung closer and closer to his face.

Quiet. It was too quiet for Percy to feel comfortable. Of course his broken humerus wasn't helping. He managed to sit up and saw red. Blood was everywhere. Shit. Where was Nico? He awkwardly rolled onto his feet, grimacing with the pain in his arm. He ran through the thick puddle of blood in front of him, seeing bodies everywhere, but not Nico's. Even the leviathan's body was lying there, smoking slightly. Strange. Why hadn't it turned into gold dust? He got around the huge dead serpent and saw Nico, on his knees and looking shocked.

"Nico! Are you okay?" he shouted, running to the younger man. Black eyes turned to him.

"I'm sorry." Nico whispered before passing out. It was suddenly as if someone had pressed a play button. Noise filled the air as the laying bodies stood up, crying and wondering what had happened. A man nearby spit on the body of the leviathan and then looked over to Percy, who was holding a fainted Nico in his good arm.

"We all knew that boy was no good." he said before turning and leaving to help the other victims. Percy glared at his back and then nudged Nico. In a half-conscious state Nico leaned against his boyfriend and they made their way back into the castle. Percy set Nico down as delicately as he could with one arm and then made his way over to a fountain which was spouting sea water. He used the water to heal himself and then dragged the smaller body closer to the fountain before splashing some water on Nico's face.

"Is everyone okay?" were the first words out of Nico's mouth.

"I'm not sure. It looked pretty bad." Percy answered.

Nico rubbed his face, "I just didn't know what else to do. I figured they would be safer if they were all asleep."

Poseidon entered the room with a very upset Tyson. Percy quickly stood up, "Father, it wasn't Nico's fault-" Poseidon raised a hand to silence his son.

"I know this."

Tyson sniffled, "I just wanted to pet him."

Tyson had let the leviathan in. Percy's stomach dropped as he realized that everyone would think it was Nico anyway.

"I'm going to try and explain things to our people, but you have to understand something, son." he looked between Percy and Nico, "They're going to blame what makes sense to them, no matter what."

Percy nodded, even though he wanted to yell at his father to make sure everyone knew that Nico had tried to save them all. Poseidon left with Tyson and Percy knelt near Nico.

"Come on, I'll take you to my room."

"I can walk." Nico said stubbornly, but when he got to his feet he swayed and let himself lean on Percy. They got to Percy's room and Percy laid the smaller body down on the bed before fetching a glass of water.

"I'm not meant for any of this, Percy."

Percy's heart hurt for how broken Nico sounded. He had just saved a city from destruction and he was feeling guilty!

"They know the truth, Nico. They'll admit it eventually."

"It doesn't matter. I'm still the bad guy."

"No you're not."

Nico kicked his shoes off, "Whatever."

Percy sat next to his boyfriend and nuzzled the younger man's neck before kissing him on the side of his face. Nico moved away.

"I wish you wouldn't do that." Nico said quietly. Percy's instinct was to laugh it off and tell Nico that he liked it, but he knew something was really wrong.

"Why?" he asked quietly.

Black eyes looked into his, "The closer I let myself get to you again, the harder it is to let you leave." Nico's skin began to flush as he felt exposed and silly talking about it, "I just can't anymore, Percy."

Green eyes looked away as the warrior silently comprehended what was being said. Was Nico breaking up with him? Percy felt panic in his chest at the thought, then his stubborn streak kicked in. No, fuck that. He was *not* going to lose Nico. At least not without a really good fight.

"Can't what?" he asked, trying to sound as level as possible. Maybe he didn't need to panic.

Nico gestured around the room, "All of this." he sighed, "I just don't want to be a part of it."

Hmm, kind of vague. "Part of what?"

"I'm just ... tired, I guess." Nico's voice started to rise as he spilled the secrets he'd been harboring for months, "I'm tired of quests and fighting monsters and the talk and just... fuck. Everything."

Percy felt the stab of hurt and couldn't hide it, "Everything?"

Hearing Percy's hurt broke the dam and Nico felt hot tears falling down his cheeks, "I love you, Percy. That's the problem. I love you so fucking much, but I only get to see you every few weeks. I've tried to be a part of what you're a part of, but I'm just pushed out. I get so scared that one day you won't come back and then I'll hate myself for not being there for you and I just-" he paused as a wave of emotion choked him, "I can't deal with it anymore."

The other man didn't reply. He, too, was crying. He hated what Nico had said. He hated that part of it was his fault. Annabeth and Grover had never really treated Nico very well, but Percy hadn't realized that their behavior actually hurt his boyfriend. He was just too damn quiet about things like that. He didn't want to lose Nico just because he had felt left out. But then, it wasn't just that. He knew Nico's powers exhausted him, and he almost always had to use them when fighting monsters. He pulled Nico against him as they continued sobbing and he attempted to control himself.

"We'll be okay, Nico. We'll find a way." Percy said desperately.

Nico looked up at him, "I don't want to lose you." he moved up to kiss Percy. He kissed him like he was thirsty and his boyfriend was water. He didn't know how they would make it work, but the way Percy said it made Nico believe it was possible.

"Son."

The two parted and looked at Poseidon. He gave no reaction to having walked in on the two of them, but just gave Percy a hard stare, "You need to come with me."

"Nico too?"

Poseidon shook his head, "You."

Nico got up and wiped his face, trying to appear normal, "It's okay. I need to go, anyway." he looked at Percy, "And just so you know, it's okay that you forgot about our plans. I didn't really want them anyway." With that Nico disappeared into the shadows and Percy was left staring into the space where his boyfriend had been.

"Son, we need to go. Everyone is waiting for you."

Percy looked over to his father and got up, feeling kind of shellshocked. What had just happened? What was Nico talking about at the end? He couldn't fathom what "them" referred to. Maybe he was as bad as Nico had made him out to be. He followed his father, who remained silent on the matter, until they came to the front of the castle. A crowd was waiting for them. Percy listened to Poseidon tell everyone what had happened, and Tyson sobbed as he begged for their forgiveness. He knew it was important stuff and that he should care, but all he cared about was Nico. All he ever cared about was Nico. He was worried about where he had gone, and the fact that they hadn't confirmed nor denied the end of their relationship. He understood where Nico was coming from. Sometimes he hated feeling like he didn't have a choice over his own life, but he had made it work. Maybe he should have tried harder somewhere. Should he have tried to make Nico not go to school so they would be together more often? No, that was stupid. Should he have given up his responsibilities at camp and gone to school with Nico? No, he wouldn't have felt right about that. He kicked the ground in frustration. What was he going to do now that the damage was already done?

"Percy."

He looked up to see his father giving him a stern look. It was his turn to placate the crowd. He defended Nico, and as he did he realized that he always would be, no matter if they were together or not. It seemed like he was the only one who realized how good and kind he was. He could tell that the people still didn't agree with him, but they seemed to be trying to accept Percy's words out of respect. They could always talk shit on the two of them later. When the crowd had dissipated Percy made a mad dash to the hippokampoi stables, vaguely hearing Poseidon call his name. He had to find Nico, and he had to find him now.

wwwww

Oh no, trouble in paradise! I know Nico seems kind of... weak just now, but no worries. He kicks ass in the ending. This is prolly just a 2 chapter deal, but we'll see. Thanks for reviews and I love youuuu. 


	2. Elemental Pull

Nico's stomach dropped in panic. He was lost. He had *not* landed where he had intended. He cursed himself for traveling while distracted. He had sounded like such a selfish child with Percy! 'Wah, I need more attention. Wah, I don't want to work hard. Wah, I hate my life. Wah wah wah...' Why couldn't he just suck it up and be happy with what he got? Now he'd probably messed up everything and now he had no idea where the fuck he was. It was some sort of old park, and the sun was setting. He attempted to just shadow travel back home, but he couldn't. His skin broke out in cold chills. He was in trouble. As his senses became more alert he got the feeling that he was surrounded and being watched. He pulled out his Stygian blade, ready for anything. He heard a branch snap to his left and he ran toward it. The park suddenly went quiet. He was alone again. Still, he looked around with his blade at the ready and his body prepared to strike. From the corner of his eye he saw a shadow; a quick, awkward shadow. That wasn't good. The park buzzed with energy again. Nico inhaled once before turning to the enemy.

Again nobody was there. Still, he sensed that he wasn't alone. He started walking toward the playground, feeling like that was the most likely place for a showdown. He was walking across a soccer field, sweeping his eyes toward any strange shadows. As he got closer to the playground he heard the distinct metal squeak of the swingset. He rounded the large slide and saw a boy around his own age. This boy had fair skin and hair and blue eyes; an almost unworldly look. Nico's senses went on the alert and he squeezed the hilt of his blade tighter.

"Oh no don't do that." the boy said quietly, in a sort of breathy voice. He dug his white sneakers into the sand to stop himself from swinging. The pale blue eyes appraised Nico up and down, "I appreciate your contrast."

Nico loosened the hold on his blade just a little, "My what?"

The other man's mouth curled up in a tiny smile, "White skin, black hair, white shirt, black pants. You're like Melinoe, if she were a man." he sucked in his bottom lip as if he had told a silly joke.

Nico's body buzzed with a strange energy. It was a bit like how he felt when he had to wear that mask in the dentist's office. He put his blade away. "Who are you?"

"Brian, son of Aurae." the man said in that same breathy tone.

"Goddess of breezes." Nico confirmed out loud and Brian nodded. "You're in my English class at school." Nico continued and Brian nodded again.

"I can tell that you're stressed. Sit, come." Brian said, motioning to the other swing. Nico felt no danger just yet, so he obeyed. Brian moved his foot from the sand and began swinging languidly, just letting his body weight make the swing move. Nico kept the toes of his shoes in the sand, not ready to let go. Brian noticed this and playfully kicked a leg out, effectively moving Nico's feet and making him start swinging. They began to swing in silence. Nico was forgetting where he was, and what the situation was. He began to remember how he and Bianca used to go to the park with their mother, and they would both try to swing higher than the other. One time Nico had gone so high he had fallen out of the swing and landed face first in the sand. Bianca had come jumping after him and hurt her ankle, but she ignored the pain and ran over to him and brushed the sand from a wound on his chin. Their mother came over and made sure Nico was alright before turning her attention to Bianca's swollen ankle. It was then that Nico wished he had two parents. One wasn't enough to care for two children. Now, as he was swinging higher and higher he remembered something that he had never noticed before. As he had been laying in the sand as a child, he thought he saw a shadow near the tree. Suddenly he jolted and was brought back to reality.

"Nico, slow down."

It was Brian. He had put his hand on Nico's back to stop him from falling out of the swing. Nico looked over at the other boy. Something about his demeanor and pale eyes just calmed him.

"Come with me." Brian said, stepping off of the swing. Nico obeyed, still feeling like he was breathing nitrous oxide. Brian held his hand out and Nico took it. Brian's hand was cool and dry. Nico felt like he was gliding, and when he looked down at his feet he saw that they were hovering about an inch off of the ground. The feeling was neat, like ice skating, and Nico found himself smiling. Brian smiled back at him and continued pulling him along, across the tennis courts and slowly gaining altitude. Nico's foot hit the top of a fence as they ascended, but he didn't even hear it. He was preoccupied with wondering how Brian's eyes could be so pale; like an old blind man's. They continued floating up for a moment, and then Brian grabbed Nico's other hand, floating backward and dragging Nico forward. "How do you feel, Nico?"

Nico closed his eyes, "I feel... good." he said with a little giggle. He felt light headed in the most wonderful way.

"I know you do." Brian said wistfully, "I know you do." he turned Nico around as if they were dancing and Nico giggled again. Brian made a move and Nico followed, spinning himself out and then spinning back into Brian, forcing him into a fit of giggles. When he calmed down Brian was still holding him. They both listened as Nico's breathing went back to normal, and then things were painfully quiet. Nico looked at Brian for reassurance and saw the other man's face coming closer to him. He moved away slightly and then remembered that Brian was the only reason he was up in the air.

"What are you doing?" he asked quietly.

"Shh, Nico. Just relax, baby." Brian whispered and leaned in again.

"No!" Nico pushed away violently, breaking Brian's hold. Unfortunately he then found himself plummeting down to earth. He was only slightly glad when Brian swooped down and grabbed him.

"I'm sorry, Nico. I didn't mean it." he said, wrapping his arms around the smaller man.

"Yes you did." Nico said angrily, wishing he could reach his blade, but Brian's arms were holding him too tightly.

"Okay, so I did. I'm sorry. You're just so beautiful, Nico. I know I can make you happy. I want to make you feel good."

"But... Percy."

Brian loosened his grip and they started to descend, "I should have known it was too soon to bring you here." he sighed against Nico's neck.

"What now? This is your fault?"

"I control the breeze, Nico. I can make travelers go wherever I want them to. I just wanted to try and... nevermind."

When their feet touched the cement of the tennis courts again oxygen flooded Nico's system and his head began to clear. He looked up at Brian and his pale eyes looked so sad, it broke his heart.

"Hey, don't feel bad Brian. You seem like a cool dude. You'll find someone one day, just not me."

"But I like you." Brian pouted. They stood in an awkward silence for a moment.

"So um, I can go home now, right?"

Brian shrugged sadly, "Yeah. I'll let you go." Nico started to walk away to find a shadowy spot, but then stopped when Brian said pleadingly, "Wait!"

"Yes?" he asked, turning around.

"Make sure that Percy's good to you after this. You deserve it." Brian gave a little sad half smile and then Nico slipped into a shadow underneath the slide and was gone.

Nico emerged from a shadow underneath a tree's branches. He was in a moist forest; decaying leaves formed soft ground underneath him and green moss climbed up the north sides of the trees. The trees looked half alive. They were black and split as if victims of fire, but green leaves bursted from the sooty branches, screaming life. Nico kind of liked the effect, though he was busy worrying about the fact that he still hadn't successfully gotten home. He heard a twig snap and pulled his blade out.

Ahead of him was a young man with darker skin and long brown hair cut in sharp angles, or maybe he'd just forgotten to brush his hair. Nico had seen boys like this at college. Pretty to look at, but most had pretty drab personalities. Given the situation, however, Nico knew the boy wasn't just on a stroll in the woods. He watched, blade at the ready, as the boy continued walking toward him from the depths. Now nearer, Nico heard strange popping and hissing noises and it smelled like after the harvest when people burned off their crops. He also noticed that everything seemed darker as the boy approached. Trees went black, singed at the edges, and leaves were burning into ash.

"Hey. I'm Garrett"

Nico stared at the boy. Flames were starting to lick at the boy's skin. The boy's eyes rolled and he sighed as if he were feeling the utmost pleasure. He looked back to Nico and brought out a bouquet of roses from nowhere.

"These are for you."

The gesture pissed Nico off. Whenever someone seemed interested in him he always felt really invaded, like the blonde girl from class. Especially as it seemed like his and Percy's fight had put blood in the water, and the sharks were coming for him. In the hopes to get to the point of this strange encounter faster, Nico grabbed the bouquet and started tearing it apart. The thorns stabbed into his hands and scratched his skin, but he couldn't feel it. It felt amazing to destroy something so beautiful. The boy merely watched until Nico threw what was left onto the smoldering ground.

"You're bleeding." the boy said, grabbing Nico's hands. This time Nico felt the sting of his cuts as well as the heat of the flames running across the boy's body. He ripped his hands away and started to run. Something was up and it was taking too long to get to the point. He felt both panicked and satisfied when he heard the boy running after him.

"Nico. Come back. Brian said it was my turn to try and... talk to you."

The smaller man didn't listen to him. He just kept running through the endless forest. The warrior darted to the left, heading toward the sound of running water. He really hoped that this guy couldn't swim. The young man was quickly gaining on him, so he started to run in a zigzag pattern. He tripped over something and felt the other man's weight fall on top of him. He was roughly turned to face the young man.

"Calm down. I'm not going to do anything." Garrett said, loosening his grip and letting Nico stand up, then he said, "Nothing you don't want, anyway." before grabbing Nico around the waist and pinning him against a tree.

Nico's anger surged inside him and he shouted, "Get off of me!"

Garrett held the pale slender neck, "Why? You don't have anyone else to get off with now. Why not do it with me?"

Compared to this guy Nico was wishing he was still hanging out with Brian, "I do have someone."

"Who? Percy? He doesn't want you anymore. If he did, maybe you would see him more often."

"We've both been busy."

"That's bullshit!" the flames on Garrett's skin flared and he clamped his hand around Nico's neck, squeezing. Just as quickly, the flames died down and he loosened his hand, instead stroking Nico's neck, "Come on. I'll show you what it's really supposed to feel like." he stuck his thumb against one of the open wounds on Nico's hands and Nico gasped in pain. Garrett smiled and moved the hand on Nico's neck to his shoulder, holding him against the tree as he leaned down to lick Nico's neck. The smaller man's stomach turned as his body unwillingly reacted to the mix of pleasure and pain.

"See? I know what kind of kinky shit you like." Garrett said in a low voice before putting his lips back on Nico's neck. Another surge of anger swept through the smaller body as Garrett's lips crept up his neck and across his cheek. He thought he might vomit when the taller man's tongue licked at his mouth, then he got an idea. He let Garrett's tongue explore his mouth for a while, pretending to be getting into it. Garrett began to push his hips against Nico's as his tongue ravished the smaller man's mouth excitedly. Nico waited a little bit longer, until he heard the rattle of a belt buckle coming unfastened, and then he struck. He bit down hard on Garrett's tongue and pushed forward at the same time, making the taller man lose his balance and fall onto his back. Nico lept on top of him with his blade in his hand.

"Leave me the fuck alone or I swear I'll cut it off!" he screamed, pointing his blade at Garrett's exposed body part.

"Okay okay! Relax!"

Nico just looked at him and thrust his blade. It stuck in the ground just inches from Garrett's ear, "This is not okay! You do not treat people like that!" Nico was freaking out. He didn't know how to feel, or what he was feeling. He just knew that it was intense and that if he didn't channel it, he would definitely stab this guy.

"I know I know I'm sorry!" Garrett said, putting his hands up. Nico took his blade out of the ground and stood up. He was glad that he didn't put his blade away because as soon as Garrett was standing again he lunged at Nico, "Sorry for not knocking you out first."

Without even thinking about it, Nico jabbed his blade into Garrett's right lung. He felt his hand get soaked in blood. Human blood. No, demigod blood. Garrett's eyes went wide and then he stumbled backward. His hand went up to his mouth and he looked at the blood that had started to come out. For a moment he looked very confused, then he clenched his hand and burst into harsh flame. Nico only had a moment to marvel at it before a flaming sword swiped inches from his face. He turned around and lunged with his dagger, suddenly wishing that his weapon of choice were a little longer as the fire's heat blistered his skin.

"You're so pretty, let me fix that for you." Garrett said, aiming the sword at Nico's face again. The smaller man blocked it and sliced Garrett's wrist. The flames passed over the other man's skin and the cut disappeared. Shit, Nico was in trouble. He hesitated and Garrett smiled, "You look even better when you're bleeding."

The younger man considered his options. Die in a painful, bleeding, blistering death, or give this guy what he wanted. The last thought made him lick his teeth in disgust. The thought of anyone but Percy touching him just seemed sick and wrong. His skin felt grimy at the thought of it. He squeezed his blade tighter and resumed his battle stance, ignoring the pain in his hands and arms. If Percy ever found his body, at least he would know that he'd put up a good fight.

In the silence, he heard the running water again. He almost wanted to cry when he realized just how much he missed Percy just then. Forming a new plan he chucked his blade at Garrett, who had let his guard down while he watched Nico decide his fate. The Stygian blade got the other man in the base of his neck and he fell to his knees when he realized he couldn't breathe. Nico didn't stick around, knowing that it hadn't killed him. Instead he ran to a rushing river and ran right into it, not waiting to see if Garrett followed him before starting to swim across it. There were a few moments before he made it to the other side when he thought he would be swept away by the current, but his instincts kept him going. Finally he made it to the other side and he crawled out of the river, gasping for air. He walked away from the river's edge as far as he could before he had to stop for air and figure out his battle plan now that his blade was gone from him.

Before Nico could catch his breath he watched as Garrett came out of the water. His body steamed as the water on him boiled, slowly evaporating and drying his skin and clothes. Nico stood up and searched the ground for a weapon. If nothing else, he was going to bash this fucker's brains in.

x.x.x

Meanwhile, Percy was wandering aimlessly through New York City. Nico hadn't been at school, or camp, or in the Underworld, as a very irritated Hades had told him. He was beginning to feel hopeless, with occasional periods of being pissed at Nico for doing this and worried sick that something terrible had happened to him. He faced a delay when he checked his mother's home. He didn't mind spending time with his mother and her husband, but just then his focus was on something else. He didn't want his parents to know what was bothering him. He didn't want more people thinking badly of Nico. Finally he left with a crazy idea. Where was Nico's mother buried? He really didn't want to bug Hades again, but he was desperate. As he walked down the sidewalk toward Central Park he dug in his pockets for some more drachmas.

"Really?" Hades' annoyed face appeared in the iris message, "Didn't I talk to you 5 minutes ago?"

Percy's face flushed, "Pretty close, but I need to know something to look for Nico. Where was his mom buried?"

Hades' face changed, but only for a moment, "West River Cemetery."

"In... Oregon?"

"Italy, Percy." Hades rolled his eyes, regaining composure, "Sometimes I wonder why such an intelligent son as mine bothers with my brother's fish for brains son."

Percy flushed. He hated when people tried to tell him that he was stupid. It was like school all over again. He calmed himself and just gave Hades a wave, "I love you, too." he said and ended the Iris message. Now to get to Italy. He knew his hippocampus could make the trip, but he definitely needed some food first. Where in New York was he going to find some good fresh seaweed? Luckily he found a Japanese fish market nearby. He got a funny look as he bought several pounds of seaweed and then accidentally tried to pay in drachmas. He carried the packages to the nearest dock and checked to make sure that the coast was clear before shoving them into the water and following after.

Rex, his hippocampus, was waiting impatiently to be let free from his makeshift leash at the bottom of the Atlantic coastline. He perked up a little when he saw that Percy had food for him and rocked in anticipation. Percy calmly talked to him while Rex was being fed and when he was finished Percy patted him on the neck, "Now, can you make it to the coast of Italy?"

Rex's mouth opened in awe and some seaweed escaped, "You serious, bro?"

"Well yeah."

The hippocampus shook his head, "No way. I'd be eaten by a shark or something before we even rounded Africa."

Percy blushed. He'd completely forgotten about certain animals and geography that would hinder his journey. Great. He'd spent all of his American money on seaweed for a no go.

"Don't you have that other thing? A pegasus?"

BlackJack. Hmm. It was worth a shot. Zeus would just have to understand. Percy sent the hippocampus home and then went back to the surface to get his trusty pegasus from camp. He faced another delay when Chiron, Annabeth, and Grover all bombarded him with questions about why he was back so soon. He told them that he was rescuing Nico, which just prompted more questions. None of the, however, offered to help him. Finally he was in the air as the sun set and he briefly wondered if it would have been a better idea to set out in the morning when he was rested. No, he decided, he had to find Nico now.

Both he and BlackJack were nervous; Zeus could knock them out of the sky at any moment and they had a long way to go. They took a break in Morroco, where Percy had to trade a few things for supplies. He was kind of glad that he had ended up pausing long enough to pack a backpack at camp. As he was trading an extra pair of shoes for lunch he saw yellow in the corner of his eye. On the table of a small marketplace store was a dish with sunflowers painted on it. A realization hit him and then a wave of guilt accompanied it.

"I didn't really want them anyway." echoed in his head. Nico was talking about sunflowers. Percy had promised him a garden with giant sunflowers and an orange tree. When had he forgotten? As soon as he had gotten back to camp, he realized. He felt like the worst boyfriend ever. Now he was even more determined to bring Nico back safe. He had to make things right.

"Hey BlackJack." Percy said as he came back to his "horse" with wings hidden in a huge blanket.

"Yeah boss?"

"We need to make one more stop before we head out."

Later they were in the air again and Percy was having a hard time keeping his eyes open. He really hoped that he found Nico soon. What if he never found him? Percy bit his lip. He wasn't going to let that happen. He was scanning the sky for lightning bolts as well as low flying planes when he felt a strange pull. It was like a wave when he was underwater, only he wasn't in the water. Maybe it was just because he was tired. He felt the pull again and images of someone's legs swimming in water came into his mind. He saw the water behind the legs clouding with thousands of bubbles and steam, as if someone had dropped hot metal into cold water. Throught the bubbles and steam he started to see a face. His stomach dropped when he realized that the legs were wearing Nico's skull sneakers, and the other person was chasing after him. Another pull brought him out of his vision and it was so violent that he fell off of BlackJack and began plummeting to his death. He was too scared to even scream. Percy barely noticed that his body was changing. It was as though fine sea mist was being thrown at him, and wherever the mist touched his skin he was... disappearing. Percy opened his mouth to scream, but the rest of him dissolved before he could.

He hit moist ground, luckily. He felt water leaving his body like a wave retreating back into the ocean. Green eyes looked up and he felt his heart beat faster. Nico. Black eyes were staring past him. The smaller man was standing still and his dark curls were dripping with water, making him look like a drowned puppy. He blinked and tilted his head back before composing himself again. Percy realized that his lover was about to pass out.

"Nico!" he pulled himself up and ran to the other man.

Nico gave Percy a dark stare, but it faltered as his eyes started rolling back into his head, "Don't-." he mumbled. Percy paid heed to the hand telling him to stay away. The black eyes started to focus and Percy followed them over to a body about 15 feet away. It was a young man with darker skin and long hair. He was leaning against a tree, holding his neck as his jugular vein spurted thick rivers of blood down his shirt. His body was steaming as if he were burning from the inside out and every so often a small flame would burst from beneath the man's hand. Percy watched as Nico approached the man and kneeled next to him. He reached across the other man and pulled his Stygian blade from the man's torso before standing over him.

"I'm going home now, Garrett. Let me go home." Nico said, leveling his blade between the man's eyes.

"No!" Garrett reached out and caught Nico's ankle, pulling him to the ground, "I need to share your powers." Percy saw that his neck wound had healed and that his body was flickering with tiny flecks of flame. He made to run over and help Nico, but Garrett looked up at him and threw a fireball at his feet, stopping him in his tracks. Garrett then got up and made a circle around himself and Nico with the fire. Percy couldn't go through it without burning up and he frantically ran around it, trying to find a way in.

Nico was fighting off the black spiders in his vision. Percy didn't need to see what was about to happen to him, though he was glad his lover had managed to find him. He felt Garrett flip him into his stomach and his already broken ribs poked at his insides, making him gasp in pain.

"Now your perfect little boyfriend gets to watch and there's nothing he can do to stop it. Who's your hero now, Nico?"

Percy ran into the river. He was smart enough to realize that this Garrett guy wasn't so strong when he was wet. He just hoped that he could do this in time to save Nico. He concentrated on the water rushing around his legs. It would be harder to control than water that was more calm. He tuned into it's power, cutting through the earth and uprooting trees. He concentrated on using that power, that energy, and moving it up over the ground. He felt the water rising over his body and opened his eyes. The river was flooding over the ground and dousing the circle of flames. As soon as he could see Garrett he made the water lunge at him, hitting him with such force that he rolled several feet away. Percy started walking forward, keeping his mind concentrated on the water. It rushed around, taking Garrett with it into a sort of whirlpool. Garrett was lifted high into the air and then Percy let go, letting him fall back to the ground, unconscious. The water retreated back into the river and Percy ran over to Nico, who was struggling to sit up. He got to his knees by the time Percy got to him, and was trying to grab his blade. Percy grabbed it and gave it to him. Nico just looked around and then when he saw Garrett he crawled over to him until he was looming over him with the blade, wobbling a little.

"If I ever see you again, I will kill you." Nico said and then stabbed his blade down between Garret's legs, "I told you to leave me the fuck alone."

Garrett caught his breath for a moment and then weakly flipped Nico off. He put his middle finger to his mouth and licked it before disappearing in a burst of flame.

Percy caught Nico as he finally let the blackness take over him and passed out cold. Percy just held him and concentrated on the water puddled on the ground, drawing it up and using it to heal his lover as best he could. When Nico came to enough he gave Percy an angry look and then pushed him away as he stood up and made his way toward the river in front of him. Percy watched as his lover took stock of his surroundings and then his injuries and wet state. He turned back to Percy and let out a frustrated scream. He gestured to each side, screaming at his surroundings. When the angry screams started to lessen, Nico grabbed a rock from the ground and chucked it toward Percy. It hit a tree that he was standing next to, and Percy was glad to know that if Nico had really intended to hit him, he would have, so he continued watching his lover have a tantrum. Finally Nico collapsed on the ground and caught his breath. Slowly he looked up at Percy. He kept his eyes on the other man as he stood up.

"Percy?" he said.

Percy gave him an innocent look. None of this was his fault and he hoped Nico knew that, "Hmm?"

Nico's heart quivered at the wide eyed innocence, "Do you have any idea what just happened?"

"You re-enacted a scene from Toddlers and Tiaras?"

"I don't know what that is, but no." Nico raised his hands, "I just..." his voice caught, "He almost- I'm sorry for leaving."

Percy just grabbed Nico close to his body and held him. He didn't really care what had happened, His Nico was safe now. Nico chewed his lip and took in the warmth of the other's body. So much to say, but he wasn't sure how to articulate it. He decided to just blurt it all out at once.

"I know I can't just magically not be a demigod, and I know I have responsibilities and shit, but sometimes I just want to be able to come home and feel safe because I have you with me. I know it's my fault for going to school instead of fighting with you, but I just want something that's mine, I guess; An accomplishment that has nothing to do with my father, or camp, or even you. In a perfect world I can have both, but I guess it's just not possible."

Percy just kissed him on the forehead, "You can have both. I have an idea I'll tell you later. I'm just so glad you're safe."

"You do see my surroundings and realize I just stabbed a son of a fire god in the dick, right?"

"Yeah. What are you doing here, anyway?"

"I wasn't concentrating very hard when I shadow traveled I guess. This weird dude named Brian somehow made me travel to a park where he wanted me to be his boyfriend and then when I said I liked you he got all sad and told me to tell you to treat me well because I deserve it and then when I tried to go home I ended up here and fuckin' Garrett was all like 'Oh you're so hot, lemme get at you' and when I ripped up his roses he tried to get it from me anyway and then I stabbed him and he kept coming so I stabbed him some more but his fire made him better so I jumped in the water and wished you were here and then I just kept stabbing and he kept fighting and then you came and yeah. Where the fuck am I?"

After taking in Nico's story and translating it to what his brain could understand, Percy looked around. Across the river from a forest they were standing in grass. Columns and small stone slabs littered the landscape with some larger ones.

"No way." Percy said. They were in a graveyard. Nico seemed to realize this at the same time and he started walking away. Percy followed him to a large stone crypt.

"Who knew that this is where my mind would take me?"

"I knew." Percy said quietly, looking at the large stone slab. Written on it was "Maria di Angelo", and below those letters, in newer looking etching was "Bianca di Angelo". Nico didn't respond. He just traced the letters with his finger and then brushed some leaves off of the tomb. Percy grabbed Nico's hand, which was still wet.

"So tell me what happened. How did you find me?" Nico asked.

Percy told him about how he'd been riding BlackJack and then had felt the pull and had his visions.

"Weird. We don't have an empathy link."

"I know, but I have a weird theory."

"Yeah?'

"You know how all that happend our first time?" Percy blushed, remembering the perfect awkwardness of their first time having sex. It had caused a massive muddy flood at camp.

"Yeah."

"Well, our elements mixed. So maybe when you're in mine I can connect to that kind of."

"What about me? Will I only know you're in danger when you're in a mud pit?"

Percy shrugged, "I don't know."

Nico thought for a moment. "Hide and seek." he said.

"What?"

"Let's play hide and seek."

"Now?"

"Just do it!" Nico said. He hid his face against his family's tomb and started counting. Percy obeyed and ran across the cemetery. He felt really inappropriate to be playing games in a cemetery, but he trusted Nico to know what he was doing. He found a strange ditch and hid himself in it, thinking about wanting Nico to find him.

When Nico finished counting he turned around, but kept his eyes closed. He concentrated on his element; earth. He could sense all of the bodies beneath his feet, which kind of freaked him out. He concentrated further and felt a weird pull. His feet dug into the ground and he got a vision of Percy laying in a ditch. He opened his eyes and felt the pull stronger. He wasn't about to try to travel through the ground, so he let go of his concentration and searched for the ditch.

"Boo." he said when he found Percy and helped him get out.

"It's kind of freaky, really." Percy said.

"Yeah, but I think we'll always be there when we really need each other? I don't know. It's a nice thought. Want to play some more?"

"You need to get warm and into some dry clothes." Percy said as he watched his lover shiver. He grabbed Nico closely. Nico hesitated against him for a second, and then relaxed, putting his arms around the taller man.

"We need a plan. I need my independence, but I need to deal with life, too." Nico said into Percy's shirt.

"We'll come up with something. Just... come home with me and get warm, please. I don't want you to get sick."

Home and warm. Nico wanted those desperately, but first he had to do something.

"I will. Just... let me stay here for a moment. I must have accidentally come here for a reason." he turned back to his mother and sister's shared tomb. Percy nodded.

"I'll be over here." He walked away to give Nico a moment alone.

x.x.x.

They arrived back at Poseidon's underwater palace thanks to both of Percy's half horse friends. Percy made quick work of stripping Nico and shoving him into the warm shower. He didn't make any moves on Nico, knowing that the other man wasn't quite ready just yet. They still had unresolved things to talk about. He got into the shower after Nico and when he came out Nico was holding a small package.

"Sorry, these were sticking out of your pants pocket." Nico said quietly, "So you remembered afterall."

Percy walked over to the smaller man holding the package of sunflower seeds, "I admit that it took me too long to remember. I don't even know why I forgot. I really do want that for you, Nico. It's just going to take some time."

"I really do want them. I'm only willing to wait so long, though, Percy."

"I know." Percy kissed Nico's forehead, "We can do it, I promise. I'll give you a place to come home to, with big sunflowers, and an orange tree and a fucking white picket fence if you want it."

Nico snickered, "I'll be there when you come home, I promise." and then he gave in and kissed Percy hard. Percy kissed back, communicating the intensity of his feelings with his mouth. There was a knock on the door and he reluctantly went to answer it. It was someone with food, courtesy of Poseidon. Nico hadn't realized how hungry he really was until Percy came in with the tray. He didn't even like seafood that much, but right now he could eat the whole tray. Percy brought out a tv and put a movie on while they ate.

"You know, it would be radical if my dad really had flaming blue hair." Nico said, watching the screen and indiscriminately shoving food into his mouth.

Percy smiled. Nico was adorable on so many levels just then. From his use of "radical" to his fascination with the television. He'd never wanted to waste time in front of a TV after coming out of the Lotus Casino, and Percy understood it. It was nice to watch him doing something brainless for once, though. They finished their food and when the movie was over they got ready for bed. Percy turned off the lights to let the dull light of the underwater city seep into the room and then followed Nico to the bed. They laid there in silence for a while. Percy wanted to hold Nico, but wasn't sure if Nico would allow it just yet. He felt the bed vibrate and he realized that it was Nico's body.

"Are you still shaking?" Percy whispered in the darkness. Nico turned around and kissed him and hummed a 'yes' noise. "Why? Still cold?"

"I'm just feeling a lot." Nico whispered back, his voice catching a little. Percy's heart flooded with warmth. Aww, his boyfriend was crying, but it was a good cry. Percy loved it when Nico let his guard down, and this was no exception. He kissed Nico's eyelids and then his nose and then his mouth. Nico kissed back passionately and shoved his hands up Percy's shirt. The cold hands on him made goosebumps spring up on the taller man's skin and he gasped. "Sorry." Nico said between kisses. Percy didn't really care. They were like that for a long time, just kissing and touching and happy to be together, then Percy sat up and removed his shirt and Nico did the same, moving to lay underneath Percy. Once the two were naked Percy put his weight on his arms and looked down at Nico. Nico looked up at him and raised his eyebrow. He always got nervous when Percy looked at him like that. It was still strange to feel important to somebody.

Percy wrapped his finger in one of Nico's loose curls. His hair was still a little damp from the shower. Percy moved the finger to trace the side of Nico's deceptively delicate cheekbone. He knew Nico was probably blushing at being observed, and from memory he imagined the blush bleeding across the younger man's face. He leaned down and kissed Nico's lips. They were warm, confirming his suspicions of the blush. The smaller man moved his head to encourage Percy's lips to go to his neck. He still had faint bruises from Garrett's fingers, but he knew Percy could make them go away. Percy obeyed, kissing the cool skin. Nico's breathing quickened and he hoped Percy didn't notice. He didn't want to ruin this moment by getting aroused. Percy didn't give indication that he had noticed; instead he kissed Nico's mouth again and then put his lips on the other side of the smaller man's neck. He kissed down to Nico's collar bone, continuing downward. Nico watched as his lover's head disappeared underneath the seagreen sheets. Apparently he had noticed Nico's arousal and wanted to help with it.

Nico gasped when he felt Percy's hot mouth on his erection. He reached up and gripped the pillow beneath his head. He never knew what to do with his hands. He watched one of Percy's hands creep up from underneath the sheet and touch his chest. Nico held that hand and Percy made a noise at the cold contact. The vibration made Nico moan and push his hips up. Percy started moving his head faster and Nico gripped his hand harder as pleasure waved over him. He suddenly let go to let both hands slam down at his sides. He would have sat up if Percy hadn't held him down. He wanted to hold Percy, but he challenged himself to keep his hands off of his lover and just feel the pleasure he was receiving. As his end neared he panicked and his arms flailed around the pillows as he searched for something to old on to. Percy heard his lover's whimpers and slowed down just a little. He heard Nico let out a frustrated moan, so he sped up again, flicking his tongue in all the right places and making Nico squirm.

"Per-ah-fuuuyesss..." Nico babbled as his hands grabbed at the sheets and his hips thrust into Percy's face. Sweet, beautiful release.

Percy's head emerged from underneath the sheet and he kissed his boyfriend, "You're adorable even when I can't see you, you know that?" he whispered.

Nico simply nodded, still catching his breath. Percy laid next to him and he curled up into his side. The older young man held Nico for a while. Every so often, especially moments like this, he couldn't believe that Nico had picked him. He wondered what would be different if Nico had never admitted to liking him. Would he have gone on to date other boys? Would he have denied his sexuality and dated girls? Maybe he wouldn't have dated at all and just focused on camp and demigod life. He sighed at the thought. He wanted Nico by his side always, but he had to let Nico do what he thought he needed to do. Said person was now running his hand across Percy's chest, bringing chills to his skin.

"I love you." he mumbled as he sat up and looked at Percy, "And that's really scary to me."

Percy watched his boyfriend chewing his lip nervously. It wasn't the first time Nico had said the "L" word to him, but somehow it felt different... it meant something different. He was scared about it, too, but wanted to seem strong for Nico, so he simply said, "I love you. I don't want us to fight anymore."

"But we're going to." Nico reminded him.

"Yeah, but I hope you don't run away anymore."

"I won't." Nico said and moved to lay on top of Percy as he kissed him, "I promise."

They kissed for a while more and then Percy turned them so that he was laying on top of Nico. He kissed the smaller man's face all over and down his neck before going back to his lips. Nico spread his knees on either side of Percy's body and reached down to play with him. Percy moaned. It had been months since they'd been able to do this and after today's ordeal both men needed it badly. Percy made quick work of finding some lotion under his bed. He repositioned himself and used some before slowly pushing inside of the smaller body. Nico made a pained noise. It had been too long since the last time and they'd skipped the preparation part. "You okay?" Percy asked, watching a tear fall down his lover's face.

"Yeah. It's... good." That was the truth. Even though it hurt, Nico didn't mind it. He didn't want too much pain tonight, though, so he whispered, "Just stay slow for a sec."

Percy obeyed, sliding in and out at a slow pace until he felt Nico's body relax and loosen up. He paused once to add some more lotion and soon after that Nico began pushing back. Cold arms wrapped around Percy and he shivered. He bent down and kissed Nico before sitting up to watch. Nico was so hot and cute at the same time and Percy pushed in a little faster to watch the blush creep back up into Nico's pale face. The taller man felt like he needed to prove to the world that Nico should only be with him. *He* was the only one who could make him feel this way, and he wasn't fucking him just to share his powers like those other guys wanted him for.

"Percy..." Nico breathed and then bit his lip as a wave of pleasure hit him. The other man's stomach clenched; knowing he was making the smaller body feel the same way as his was an amazing knowledge. He pushed in just a little bit faster and Nico's hold on him got tighter. They started moving faster together and Percy felt Nico's fingers in his hair. They were cold, but Nico's mouth was warm and it made Percy moan. He wasn't going to last as long as he had hoped.

"Nico-." He said, intending to tell his lover just that, but Nico silenced him with a kiss. He knew. He wanted it that way. By the end of the kiss Percy had started to thrust mindlessly and he choked a sigh as stars filled his vision. As he came down he felt Nico's hands grip his hips hard as his thighs trembled in that adorable uncontrolled way that they did. Percy gently pulled out and laid next to the smaller body which immediately curled up beside him again. Percy used his free hand to bring the covers up over them and then hold Nico as they fell asleep.

Nico woke up in the middle of the night with a coughing gasp. He had been having a nightmare about drowning. He felt arms around him and crawled away in a panic. He needed space to orient himself. As his brain caught up with his body he looked around. Percy's room. He was laying on the floor. He sat up and looked at the bed to see Percy peering over at him apprehensively.

"Nico?"

"Sorry." Nico said, "I get confused when I wake up in new places."

"It's okay." Percy said quietly, as if he thought he might have done something wrong. He was glad when Nico got back on to the bed.

They sat in silence for a while. The only noise was Nico adjusting and readjusting the sheets around his legs, "I'm embarrassed now." he finally said.

"And that's why I love you, Mr. Tough Ghost King."

Nico laid down with a dramatic sigh. He stared into the glass ceiling. He knew there were a bunch of crazy fish swimming over it. He wasn't weird enough to think that they were looking at him, but he still wasn't comfortable with the knowledge. There was just something very confining about where Percy lived. Sure, he himself lived underground, but somehow it wasn't as confined. Maybe because he knew that most of the huge caverns eventually led to the surface, whereas here he could only walk so far before reaching the edge. Yep, he hated it. Nico wasn't about to tell Percy, though. As if to make up for his hateful thoughts, he curled against Percy, who pulled the covers over them again.

"Can we go back to the cemetery tomorrow?" he whispered into the darkness.

Percy made a half asleep affirmative noise and Nico was satisfied. He closed his eyes and tried to ignore his underwater worries to sleep.

Ok, I've got one or two chapters until this is finished. I hope this one was worth the wait. I love you, yay!


	3. Decay and Growth

"Is it weird that I feel most calm and comfortable in places like this?" Nico asked as they walked up a large grass hill in the cemetery where his mother and sister laid. As he spoke the cold air turned his words into mist.

"If you were anyone but the son of the god of decay, maybe." Percy said, secretly admiring his lover's backside as they walked.

"It's just very peaceful compared to the underworld. It's like this is the quiet countryside, and down there is the big city."

"Dork."

Nico took a right and started toward another cluster of headstones and above ground tombs. On the way he told Percy about what the various decorations meant. The little lambs were children, broken columns symbolized the loss of the head of the family, butterflies meant an early death...

"There's also a legend that if you see a butterfly after the death of a loved one, they made it to the good place." Nico continued as he pointed to a carving of such a creature on one of the worn stones.

"Flutterbies." Percy mumbled. He wasn't sure how to respond to this information. He found it interesting enough, but he didn't really like to talk about death and things of that nature.

Nico stopped walking and put his arms around Percy's neck, "You're cute when you're humoring me." he said and pecked him on the lips. His eyes went wide and he bounced on his feet, "Ooh! I have an idea! Let's have a picnic!"

"Here? In winter?"

"Noooo. A secret place. Let me check it out first, though." Nico said and moved from Percy to a shadow being cast by a headstone. He disappeared for about five minutes and then came back through the same shadow, "Yep, it's perfect."

Percy was burning with curiosity. It was always a surprise with Nico. "Let's go get some food and stuff." he said and held out his hand.

"Okey dokey." Nico took the hand offered him and they started walking back to where they had come from.

The sun was shining on a large fenced-in park, reflecting off of snow dusted patches. Percy wondered why they were heading away from it. He followed Nico through a little patch of trees to a huge, ornate building. The windows and doors were boarded up, and weeds shot up through cracks in the cement beneath them. Nico led him into another shadow and they came out in a room. This room had vines creeping in from the broken skylights and dead grass poking up between broken black tiles on the floor.

"This used to be the lab." Nico said as he unfolded the blanket and placed it on the floor, "I had to come here once when I was little."

"What is this place?" Percy asked, sitting down on the blanket and surveying the moss on the cement walls.

"It used to be a monastery back in the seventeen-hundreds, then it was a hospital. It closed sometime when I was in the casino."

"Why'd you have to come to the hospital?"

"I fell off of the jungle gym. Back then they didn't have as many safety regulations. I fell on cement and thought I busted my elbow. I didn't, though."

This was a conversation Percy could get into. He was always fascinated when Nico could talk about his childhood as though it were yesterday, even though it was about 70 years ago. As they ate their sandwiches Nico continued to tell Percy about his hospital visit. He talked about how worried his mother had been and how good his sister was about taking care of him. He also talked about the layout of the hospital, and that he had remembered about it when they had gone to the cemetery.

"I didn't know that it would be totally shut down like this. I knew that when I was here a few of the buildings were closed because of budget cuts and stuff. This is neat, though. Nice and peaceful."

"You and your creepy places." Percy sighed, "At least the sun is out." he said, looking through the hole in the ceiling.

Nico opened a plastic container with fruit inside and popped a grape into his mouth. There were few pleasures in life that could be compared to fruit in his opinion. He picked out a strawberry and looked at it, "Do you suppose that people find strawberries romantic because they're like little tongues?"

Percy laughed and then his eyes locked on Nico's tongue as it flicked the tip of the strawberry, "Uh, Nico? Don't do that, please."

"Why not? It's weird." Nico said and did it again before pulling it into his mouth and sucking on it. He heard Percy moan and swallow loudly and he saw his lover's pupils darken, "Oh." he smiled a sly little smile and finished the strawberry, throwing the end at Percy. The other man leaned forward and kissed Nico, wasting no time in pushing his tongue inside the cooler mouth. Nico reciprocated, secretly comparing Percy's tongue to the strawberry both could taste in his mouth. He moaned. Percy's tongue was much better. He wrapped his arms around Percy's neck and pulled him closer.

After a few moments they parted and looked at each other. Percy put out his hand and moved a curl from Nico's forehead, "Your hair's getting long."

"I know. I have the intention to cut it soon."

"Not too short, though. I like to play with it."

Nico smiled, "Okay." he laid down and rested his head on Percy's lap. He squinted up at the sun coming through the decayed hole in the ceiling. Percy moved to block the light and then bent down and kissed his lover. Nico wrapped his arm around Percy's neck again and made the kiss deeper. As they made out Percy's hand ran along Nico's stomach above his t-shirt. Slowly it moved down and dipped below Nico's belt and the younger man gasped.

"Don't start something you can't finish." He said with a little half smile.

"Oh I'm going to finish." he said, "After you...finish." he licked up Nico's neck and at the same time his hand went up Nico's shirt. Nico stretched out and just enjoyed Percy's caresses. Percy moved his hand back down to Nico's belt. The sound of the buckle mixed with their breathing were the only sounds in the quiet of the abandoned building. Percy wanted his lover completely naked and bouncing on his dick, but just in case they got caught he kept it to a simple handjob.

Later on they were both laying on the blanket, staring up at the broken ceiling. Percy put his hand up and traced the lines of the creeping vines. He followed one all the way down the wall and then looked at Nico, who had closed his eyes. He opened them when he felt Percy's stare. He looked tired.

"Are you okay?" Percy asked quietly, "You know... after yesterday?"

Nico stared up at the ceiling again, "Yeah. I'm just... so tired."

Percy knew that Nico wasn't just referring to his nightmare last night. He still wasn't happy with things in his life. Maybe he never would be. "Come here." he said and pulled Nico into his body. Nico pushed himself into Percy and held one of his hands. At least he had one thing he liked.

About half an hour later Nico blinked his eyes open after water dripped from the ceiling onto his face. He pulled his jacket off and covered Percy before just walking around the room, trying to read water damaged labels and just taking in the beautiful urban decay. Even though the building was dead, life sprang from every corner that it could. It was all very poetic. Nico inhaled. He could breathe here. It smelled like dirt and kind of like old wet paper. If Nico could, he would live here.

"Cold." Percy whined from the blanket on the frozen ground.

"Put my jacket on, dork."

Percy obeyed, but was still shivering a little bit. His body temperature was a little bit different than Nico's. Seeing Percy as the vulnerable one was different and Nico smiled at it.

"Want to explore some more?" Nico asked, moving a table from the door and opening it.

"Are we going to get busted for trespassing?"

"Not when you can blend into shadows, and this is a very shadowy place I bet."

Percy bit his lip nervously, but nodded, "Okay."

They walked out of the room and Percy was surprised at how bright the hallway was. One side was doors, and the other was all windows. The dirty tile looked like it had been white at some point, and the walls were a light blue color. Maybe Italian hospitals weren't fond of "hospital green". Nico led him into a room that he didn't remember. It was empty and most of the paint was off of the walls, save for a patch that Nico read out loud.

"Vietato fumare. No smoking. This is probably where they kept chemicals and stuff."

Percy smiled, "Say that again."

"Vietato fumare?"

"Tee-hee. I love it when you speak Italian."

Nico blushed, "Dork." They moved from that room and continued down the hallway. They came to another room with vines creeping in from the skylights. Percy could tell that it had been a bathroom, even though all fixtures save a sink had been removed or broken.

"I'm pretty sure I peed in here once." Nico mentioned casually as he looked out the solo window, "I remember those trees being a lot smaller, though."

He left the bathroom and Percy followed, sensing a little bit of melancholy about his boyfriend. It must have been strange to realize just how much time had passed since he had been to the hospital. They were both a little bit disappointed when they discovered that most of the patient rooms had been nailed shut and the doorknobs removed. They finally found one that was open. It was barren, but Percy liked the bright blue of the walls.

"I don't remember the walls being blue, but there was a lot of stuff in the way." Nico said, running his hands along the rusty radiator, "I remember the tile, though. They looked like big flowers."

Percy looked down. The tiles were hexagons, about 6 inches in diameter. They were a darker brown color and red, shaped in flowers as Nico had said. The border of the room was black rectangular tiles. Pretty fancy. They finally got to the end of the hall and took a left. The tile changed from white to the flower shapes that had been in the room, only these flowers were black and red. It made the hallway seem darker than the other one. The floor was covered in a film of dust and dirt and water seeped in from broken windows, making muddy patches beneath them. Percy and Nico looked forward and saw that one single door was open. They walked closer to it and saw the number above it in peeling paint was XIII.

"I'm not really superstitious or anything, but walking into an open door marked 'thirteen' sounds like a ticket to death if this were a horror movie." Percy said, stepping away from it a little bit. Nico nodded, but spread himself against the wall and slowly made his way over to the door. He craned his neck and peered over into the room.

"I think it's empty." he whispered before creeping into the room. Percy gripped his pen just in case as he followed.

The room was empty. Nico said it was probably just some dumb kids thinking it would be cool to go into room thirteen. They left and continued walking. At the end of that hallway was another lab-type room, only this one was completely open from where the roof had caved in. Pieces of wood littered the ground, which was all but pure dirt at this point. A tree had sprouted in one corner, reaching up into the wintery sky, which had gone gray since they had entered the hospital.

"I have an idea." Nico said, pulling out the packet of sunflower seeds from his pocket. He planted them near the tree.

"It's still winter." Percy said.

"They should be okay. If they do grow, they'll get enough sunshine here, and it's moist, so they should always have enough water."

Percy doubted that the plants would be successful, but he wasn't going to rain on Nico's parade. He and Nico heard a noise in the hallway and darted to look out. Nothing was there.

"Probably a bird or something. Let's go home." Nico said, looking for a good shadow. They heard the noise again and started moving toward it. Percy readied his pen again and he saw Nico's hand hovering above the spot where he kept his Stygian blade. The smaller man had crouched down some as he started to head down the hallway. Percy assumed that Nico had sensed something, so he followed suit. Nico crouched lower and lower until he was crawling close to the wall, heading for room XIII. He looked back at Percy, telling him with his eyes to be ready. He looked forward again and darted into the room.

Percy followed him, and nearly fell backward when he saw what was in there. Her top half was a woman, but she had skin the color of soot and 6 arms and 2 legs morphing into a spider's back half. She was nestled in a corner above their heads and appeared to be knitting. Nico stood up and seemed to relax a bit, but Percy stayed as he was.

"Arachne." Nico said, nodding his head in greeting.

Eight eyes looked up from the knitting project, "Oh Nico. Ciao, come va?"

Percy watched in curiosity as they exchanged pleasantries in Italian. Nico gestured to him and he waved awkwardly.

"She says she will not eat you because you're with me." Nico explained, giving a half smile.

"Oh, that's... good." Percy said, eyeing the fangs in her mouth.

"Try not to stare. She's still sensitive after being transformed this way."

"She was human?"

Nico nodded, "Yeah. She used to be a really good weaver, and she once said that she was better than Athena. You can imagine how that went. They had a contest and what Arachne made was so awesome that Athena tore it up and slashed Arachne's face before turning her into a spider."

"Wow. That sucks." Percy said, daring to look up and see the scar still running across Arachne's face.

Nico turned back to Arachne and spoke with her for a while more, then turned back to Percy, "She protects this place. Apparently it's important to my father for some reason." Percy shivered and Nico pulled him closer, "I guess we should be going now. Don't want you to freeze to death." He turned and said his goodbyes to Arachne and they left through the shadow she cast.

"I seriously am in love with that place. We need to go back when it's warmer." Nico said, jumping on Percy's bed.

"Whatever floats your boat." Percy said. He wasn't so much into creepy decaying places with giant spiders, but Nico was happy and that's what mattered to him.

"Youuuu float myyyy boat." Nico jumped off of the bed and lunged at Percy. They fell to the floor and Nico quickly pinned the other man down. He licked Percy's face.

"Sicko."

"You like it."

Percy blushed, "Yeah, I do."

The next morning Nico was combing his hair in front of the mirror when Percy's face appeared behind him. They stared at each other for a moment and then Nico blinked rapidly and turned his attention to the drain in the sink.

"I'm going back home for a while."

Percy's heart twitched at the tone in Nico's voice, "But you still have a week left of winter vacation."

"I know. I just... I'm tired." He looked up and at Percy's reflection again. To Percy his eyes seemed darker than usual. He really did look tired; he had woken up in terror twice that night. Percy didn't like the thought that Nico was leaving to take care of himself.

"You can rest here. I won't bug you. I promise."

Nico finally put his comb down and turned around. He gave Percy a half smile and kissed him before he wrapped his arms around the taller man's shoulders, "I know, but I just kind of need some alone time before I go back to class and if I stay here I'll never want to leave you."

"That's fine with me."

"You're sweet."

Just then an iris message appeared in the sink and Nico released Percy to look at it.

"Percy! We need you back at camp right away! We've found another son of Apollo." Grover was telling him.

"Why do you need me?" he asked, half his mind on the young man packing in his room.

"Because that's your job." Grover said simply.

"I don't wanna." Percy complained.

Grover rolled his eyes, "Look, I know Nico's with you, but you've gotta come before we lose him again. Apparently he travels a lot."

"Fine. Just give me a second." Percy ended the iris message and then went into his room to tell Nico the news. The room was empty. Dammit, Nico had given him the slip while he was talking to Grover. At least he left a note. On top of the bed was a little sticky note with, "I'll miss you. See you in the spring probably. Love, Nico." written in the kind of perfect penmanship that they don't teach in schools anymore. Percy held it against his chest. Their relationship was so flawed. He wished he could do something about it, but he wasn't sure what.

"Son, your goat friend won't stop messaging me. Go to camp before I accidentally drown him." Poseidon said behind him. Percy turned around and from the look on his father's face he knew that "accidentally" really meant, "on purpose".

"Yep yep, almost gone."

"Why do you have a sticky note on your shirt?" Poseidon asked, green eyes falling to Percy's chest. The note had managed to get stuck to the cotton fabric. Percy quickly ripped it off and threw it to the side, smiling like nothing was strange. Poseidon just gave him a look and left.

x.x.x

"Can't breathe... not enough air..." Grover complained as he lugged some more supplies up the hill.

"You get used to it." Percy promised from his perch on the roof of a cabin. Things were coming together a lot quicker than he had imagined. There were a lot more demigods interested in a west coast camp than he realized. Of course Colorado wasn't exactly west coast, but it was certainly west and a lot closer than Camp Half-Blood for a lot of newly discovered demigods. The fact that he could see the campus of Nico's school from the edge of it made him happy, too. He was hoping to have the camp ready by the time Nico got out for summer vacation. Spring break had come and gone with not much word from him, so Percy was getting antsy to see him again.

"Where should I put this thingy?" a blonde young man said just as another one accidentally hit him with a sack of seeds he had just thrown over his back. "What the fuck, Henry?" he shouted, smacking the one called Henry over the head. Without a retort Henry lunged at the other man and the two began wrestling on the ground as Percy watched.

"A son of the goddess of victory versus the son of the goddess of revenge. This could be a while." Percy heard Chrion say below him. Just then a girl with flowing golden hair walked by, and Henry got distracted enough that the other man managed to shove him away and stand up. "Or not." Chiron said before looking up at Percy, "Aren't you finished yet?"

Percy smiled, knowing Chiron was joking, "Almost." He put one last nail into the roof and then got down to face the centaur.

"Eleven down, nine to go." Chiron said, surveying the camp and counting the completed cabins.

"Thanks for backing me up with this camp." Percy said, also looking at it.

"Well, Half Blood was getting a little crowded. That reminds me, what are we calling this new camp?"

Percy shrugged, "We'll get to that later. I'm just focusing on everything going right."

"Hey, where should I put this thingy?" the blonde young man asked again, somewhat impatient. Percy turned to him. He had some kind of large iron cylinder that he was dragging with straps.

"Uh... just put it over there for now, Cameron." he said. Truthfully he wasn't sure what it was for, but he wanted it out of the way until he figured it out. Cameron obeyed and dragged it over to the generic spot Percy had pointed to.

"Hey I have another question." Cameron said.

"Yes?" Percy said somewhat annoyed. He hadn't ended his conversation with Chiron.

"Are you really building a Hades cabin?"

Both Chiron and Percy looked at him, "Yeah." Percy answered defensively, "Why?"

Cameron shrugged, "Because there's only one. Seems silly to have a big ol' cabin just for one guy. Especially a guy who doesn't seem very interested in camp."

"Well it wouldn't be fair if he didn't get one."

"He doesn't at the other camp."

"It got flooded. Anyway, what are you getting at? You act like you know him or something."

"I do."

Percy's body felt a strange wave of panic. Who was this guy and how did he know Nico?

"I have two classes with him over there." Cameron pointed at the school. Percy relaxed a little, but not much.

"Do you talk to him?"

"I try to. I rarely get a full sentence. I feel like I'm pissing him off by talking to him, but I don't know, I just try anyway."

"Why? No other demigods in your classes?" Percy was finding it more and more difficult to hide his feelings. It seemed this guy had no idea that he was Nico's boyfriend, which meant that Nico probably hadn't mentioned him.

Cameron continued, oblivious to Percy's attitude, "I don't know, he just seems really chill compared to most of the people I talk to at school. Like, he doesn't have time for bullshit."

"Yeah that's true." Percy agreed.

"You know him?"

Percy gripped the nail gun in his hand hard, careful not to squeeze the trigger, "Yeah. I've been his boyfriend for almost two years now." it was not only the first time he had openly told someone new that he was gay, it was also the first time he had ever told anyone that Nico was gay as well.

Cameron raised his eyebrows for a moment, "Ohhh, so you're the 'P' that's on his notebook. I can't read cursive very well, so I thought it was Persephone or something, which I found hilarious if he were coveting his father's mistress." He was quiet for a moment, "Now that you've told me he's gay, a lot of things make more sense."

"Like what?"

"I always tried to talk girls with him and he would just kind of shrug and walk away."

Percy fought a smile because he could imagine the exact face that Nico had probably made, "Hey, I don't know if he cares if people know or not, but I'd be happy if you kept his sexuality a secret. I don't think I was supposed to tell."

"No problem. I'm not really interested in going up in a column of fire because I can't keep my mouth shut."

Percy's mouth twitched again, "Well, next time you have class together you should tell him to come check out the camp. I've told him about it, but he hasn't really said anything."

"I promise this isn't about him being gay or anything, but he just doesn't seem like a camping sort of person." Cameron offered.

"Yeah..." Percy was starting to feel weird about this guy being able to see Nico more than he could, "Okay, I need to get back to work and stuff. Just tell him I said hi or something."

He finally turned back to Chrion, who looked amused. Percy just playfully pushed him and moved on to the next cabin. Maybe he would visit Nico sometime.

x.x.x

Nico had just been walking to the grocery store when he smelled it. Something big and mean was following him. It had been a while since he had fought a monster, but he still wasn't really in the mood for it. He was planning to surprise Percy with a picnic. He looked around. Not very many people were out at this time of day. It was early; the sun had only been up long enough to warm Nico's face but not the sidewalk. Finally he got tired of being stalked and turned around. Something big hit him in the stomach and knocked him sideways. A young hydra was looking at him like a chew toy.

"Ahh what is your problem?" Nico complained as he got up.

The hydra just growled and lunged at Nico again, hitting him with its tail. Nico reached for his blade and jabbed it into the hydra's backside. The hydra's skin was so tough that Nico couldn't get the blade back out. When the hydra whipped around to bite at Nico he found himself with no weapon. He looked around for something to use and his sharp eyes saw something down the street. Now the question was if he could get there in time.

School was out already and Percy hadn't managed to visit his boyfriend. In his defense he was scrambling to get the camp finished. Everything was built, but now he needed counselors, activity directors, and all kinds of people to fill in the spots before the camp could officially open. It didn't even have a name yet. He was doing the budget with a daughter of Tyche, goddess of fortune when he started to feel a strange pull.

Percy didn't even have time to think before he found himself evaporating into mist. He suddenly found himself in a swimming pool. He heard frantic splashing and then something hit him.

"Percy! The pen! Click the pen!"

Without questioning he clicked his pen and finally his eyes focused on a huge creature with nine heads. It was smaller than most hydras he'd seen. This one must have been a baby one. Still, this "baby" weighed a few tons and could crush him with a toe. Something shiny caught his ADD and he realized that it was Nico's blade sticking out of the hydra's skin. The hydra started coming after him, so he quickly swam to the edge of the pool and hopped out. He wasn't sure of how to handle this creature. His first instinct was to chop its heads off, but he knew that wouldn't end well. He had to figure out a way to get underneath it. He looked around for Nico to help him with his plan, but the younger man was out of his sight. Shit, had he been eaten while Percy was distracted? Percy decided to take a chance and dove between the hydra's legs, shoving his sword up into its belly. The hydra screamed and stomped its feet. Percy would have been crushed, but he felt Nico grab him and throw him out of the way.

When he recovered and looked over he realized that his blade had gotten stuck in the hydra's skin as well. He needed a plan until his blade returned to him. Blood splashed his face and he looked up to see Nico swinging a baseball bat into one of the hydra's heads. Another head came and knocked him out of the way, but the now dead head threw the creature off balance and it stumbled. Percy felt his pen in his pocket and quickly clicked it, jumping onto the hydra's back and jamming it into the vertebrae of one of its necks. Two heads down, seven to go. More blood splashed onto his face. Make that six heads. He tore his sword out of the hydra's neck and started attacking the creature's spine. Finally the hydra was waning. Its feet buckled under and the heads started going quiet. With a final stab the body went slack and Percy looked over to see Nico bashing the last head in. He held the bat above his head until the body stopped twitching and blew into gold dust. He looked over at Percy and went toward him, dragging the bloody aluminum bat across the cement.

"Hey." he said and kissed Percy, both tasting hydra blood on the other's lips, "I made something for you." he brought out a little box.

Percy took a moment to catch up with Nico's quick change of character and then grabbed the little box and opened it. It was a little silver ring with a garnet stone and onyx insets.

"I do!" Percy said, taking the ring from the box.

Nico's mouth twitched in a smile, "Dork. It's to protect you."

Percy smiled, "I love when you're so sweet to me."

Underneath the drying blood Nico blushed. He tapped the bat on the cement, watching dried flakes of blood fall off of it. Percy loved when Nico looked so blood thristy, yet adorable at the same time. He put the ring on and looked at his own bloody hand. The ring was a little big, but that was ok.

"How about you come see the new camp and take a shower?" he suggested.

Nico looked nervous, "Can we sneak in and let me shower first? Somehow I don't think this is the entrance I should be making."

"But you look so... argh!" Percy pulled Nico in and kissed him hard.

"Sex... then shower?" Nico asked after his mouth was free.

"Oh yes please."

Nico just gave a smirk and then went about finding a decent shadow to travel in. It was that time of day when that was difficult. He finally found a big one underneath the swirly slide at the far end of the pool and pulled Percy toward it. He wasn't in the mood to expend more energy to shadow travel, but the reward was well worth it. Nico threw the bat into the pool and then Percy helped him concentrate on the location they needed to end up in and then they dissolved into shadow.

Percy felt a little bit sick and wrong at the fact that he liked what he was looking at. Nico's wet hands were leaving brownish red streaks on the shower wall as he desperately tried to find something to hold onto. Every so often he would turn his head to the side and look at his lover and Percy would drive into him faster, harder, making those black eyes roll up into his head before he'd look away again. The fact that Percy couldn't see Nico's facial expressions made him want to increase the smaller man's volume. He kissed Nico's neck as he pushed up and Nico gave a shaky, pleasured scream. Yessss. He needed more. He kissed the other side of Nico's neck and earned another restrained gasp. He gripped Nico's cock and bit down on the long, pale neck.

"Ah Percy! Don't do that!" Nico gasped desperately. He felt Percy smirk behind him. The taller man didn't bother teasing him by asking him why not. Nico was pulled closer and Percy bit his shoulder. Nico couldn't help the noises coming from his mouth. He slapped the wall, wishing for something to hold on to as his thighs started to quiver. Percy licked up the back of his neck and his body broke out in goosebumps despite the hot water beating down on them both. Percy gripped the smaller man's hips and drove in with all of his strength. He was close, too. Nico could tell. Nico pulled the taller man closer and Percy lost it, gasping against Nico's neck. The smaller man followed soon after, his legs collapsing underneath him. In Percy's weakened state he couldn't hold either of them up and they both fell into the bathtub, Nico leaving a huge red streak where his body slid down the wall.

They just kind of stayed there for a while, catching their breath. Percy knew they would have to actually clean themselves pretty quickly, as the water was already turning cold.

"I used to play baseball." Nico muttered, turning to look up at Percy, "I started with a stick and some rocks, but then I was on a real team."

Percy detected some melancholy in his lover's voice, so he just held him closer and let him talk.

"You know, I bet all or most of my teammates are dead now. I wonder how many had kids and got married and shit." he then stood up. He didn't want to think of such things anymore, so he changed the subject, "Hydra blood is sticky." he rubbed at his skin.

Percy stood up and grabbed the washcloth and soap long abandoned at the beginning of their shower. He started cleaning what was left of the blood off of Nico's body, then his lover reciprocated. He noticed Nico was shivering and noted that the water had gone cold. Satisfied that he was clean enough he turned off the water and grabbed his biggest, fluffiest towel and put it around the smaller body. Nico was suddenly very quiet and Percy could feel that he was becoming withdrawn.

"What's up?" he asked. Black eyes looked surprised, as if he had been far far away in his mind.

"Sorry, just thinking." Nico said, shivering still.

"C'mon, I'll make you some tea or something." Percy took one of Nico's cold hands and brought him into his room and sat him on his bed. He grabbed some clothes from his dresser and handed them to his boyfriend, "I'll be right back." he kissed him before leaving the room. When he came back with a cup of tea he found Nico fully dressed, but fast asleep. He always forgot how easily Nico got exhausted. Then again, he had fought a hydra and shadow traveled, both of which take a lot of energy from him. Percy covered him with a blanket. He would see the new camp later.

Nico woke up and temporarily panicked until he remembered where he was. He hated sleeping in the middle of the day. It made him spacey. Then again, he's a little spacey regardless. He got up and saw a mug of tea of Percy's side table. It was cold, but he drank it anyway. A little caffiene sounded good just then. He gave himself a mirror check and then walked through Percy's new cabin. It was like a house, really, just a small one. He wasn't sure where Percy was, but he figured if there was a lake or something in this camp that would be the best bet. Before he opened the front door Nico took a breath. Hopefully he would be accepted at this one.

He blinked as sunlight assaulted his eyes, and as they focused he noticed that this camp was a lot more open than Half Blood. Less trees, more walking space. He walked down off the porch and looked around for indications of water. There was something of a well in the middle of the camp, but Percy wasn't there. As we searched, he noticed a lot of stares from the people working on the cabins. He heard whispers of his father's name. If he were in the mood he would have tried to spook some of the more timid ones, but he wasn't feeling all that devious at the moment. He recognized some blonde kid from one of his classes and decided to attempt to get information from him.

"Do you know where Percy is?" he asked.

"Holy shit, Nico." the blonde said as though the sight of him was an amazing event. He regained composure and nodded, "Yeah he's in the office over there." he pointed.

"K. Thanks." Nico turned to leave when the blonde stopped him.

"Can I ask you a question real quick?"

Something about the blonde's wide-eyed innocence dropped Nico's guard, "Yeah."

"Have you and Percy really been dating for almost 2 years?"

Nico stopped to think for a moment. Had it really been that long? Where had he been?

"Yeah, why?"

The blonde shrugged, "Just thought I would have heard more about it, that's all."

"Oh... yeah." Nico wasn't sure how to respond.

"Anyway, no big deal. I was just curious."

"Okay." Nico stood there for a moment longer. He could tell that this blonde kid wanted to talk to him more, but wasn't sure how to do it. Nico threw him a little bone, "Well, I need to go find Percy now. I'll talk to you later I guess."

"Really?" the boy seemed strangely excited.

"Yup... see ya." Nico turned and walked quickly in the direction the blonde had pointed to. He walked into the office and saw that it was bustling. People stared at him for a moment, but then politely averted their eyes as they whispered Hades' name. He found Percy at a desk, chewing on a pen as he tried to keep the letters from mixing up. A cute brunette was at his side, helping him add up certain sums. She looked up and saw Nico and smiled before whispering something to Percy. Green eyes looked up and Percy took the pen from his mouth as he smiled at his boyfriend. He stood up and kissed Nico across the desk.

"Hey, have you checked out the camp?" he asked.

"A little." Nico answered, "I wanted to find you first, though."

"Well, I'm trying to make sense of how much money we have for an archery arena, but after that I can show you around if you want."

"Nah. I can explore by myself."

"Have people been nice to you?"

Nico nodded, "Mostly avoiding me, but I did talk to some blonde dude I recognize from school."

"Oh, Cameron. Yeah, he mentioned that he knew you." Percy said, choosing not to sound accusatory.

"He doesn't. We just have class together. He annoys me."

Percy smiled a little at Nico's face, "Well anyway, if people try anything just let me know. This camp is about accepting everyone."

"Okey dokey." Nico kissed Percy again and then left. He knew that this would be a common theme at this camp, at least for a while. Percy would be busy with something and Nico would have to entertain himself. He decided that was okay. It gave him some study time without being too far away. He stuck his hands in the front pocket of Percy's hoodie that he was wearing and continued exploring the camp. It was a lot bigger than he thought it was. He wondered where Percy had gotten the land and who was all involved with money and planning and such.

Nico walked over to a cleared patch of earth with cinderblocks surrounding it. There was a small shed a few feet away and he decided to check it out. Inside were various weapons, from swords to hatchets to bows and arrows. He picked up a small fighting ax and felt the weight of it. He swung it and accidentally hit the door of the shed. He looked around, but nobody had been watching. He gently pulled the hatchet out of the wood and then walked to the center of the makeshift arena, trying out various combat moves. He'd never really worked with such a weapon, but he kind of liked it. It was personal just like his small blade, but was made to be pulled back out of whatever it was he was hacking at. He decided to try throwing it next. His first throw made him glad that nobody had been watching, but he soon got the hang of it and nailed a nearby tree.

"Damn, look at you go." A voice said behind him. It startled Nico and he made an awkward battle stance with it. He saw that it was the blonde kid... Cameron his name was... and dropped his arm.

"First time with one of these." Nico waved the hatchet.

"Well you're good at it, I mean you use it well." the boy said.

"What's your specialty?"

Cameron pulled out a handful of small knives and then moved into a position to throw them. They all landed around the spot Nico had left on the tree with his ax.

"Nice." Nico said and then heard a sound and looked back at Cameron. He was now twirling a butterfly knife and threw it quickly. It landed lower than the other ones.

"I used to use that before I got the real ones."

"Neat." Nico said, swinging the hatchet around. From the corner of his eye he watched Cameron go to the shed and grab something.

"Hey." Cameron said to get Nico's attention and then he tossed a sword over. He gave Nico a look that said, "Get ready." and then lunged at him. Nico quickly ditched the hatchet and switched hands with the sword. It wasn't a very well balanced sword, but he would deal with it. He swung toward Cameron, but was blocked, so he threw a punch with his free hand. Cameron was dazed for a moment, but then smiled, "Good, I don't fight clean, either." He spun around and almost got Nico in the side, but Nico blocked it.

Percy walked up as the two were sparring. He had managed to convince someone else to work on the budget and he had gone to find Nico. He hadn't expected to find him socializing, if that's what you could call this battle. He watched the two. Nico was good, but Cameron was just a little bit better. No big surprise, as Nico hadn't gotten the training most demigods had. Nico was definitely more aggressive, though. Percy loved his boyfriend's bloodthirsty scowl and briefly wondered if Cameron realized how much danger he was in. He heard the latter yell in pain and saw blood running down his arm. While distracted, Nico kicked him in the chest, sending him backward onto his ass. He held the blade to Cameron's throat and the other man pushed the sword to the side with his own, nearly getting Nico in the guts. Percy bit his lip. This fight was getting intense. He wasn't sure who was going to win. Neither looked tired yet, but Cameron's arm was still bleeding and Nico's motions told him his lover's leg was sore. They continued fighting, each one slashing at the other and just missing their target. Percy noticed Cameron was starting to blink a lot. The guy was going to pass out. Nico still looked ready to kill, though he was a little bit slower than before. Finally he decided to intervene.

"Hey guys." he said, walking over to them. Both looked to the side and more or less immediately dropped their weapons, glad to have an excuse to stop. Nico grabbed Percy and kissed him hard. If he hadn't been sexually satisfied so recently, Nico could have easily jumped his boyfriend right there, and Percy knew it. He blushed as they parted, feeling awkward about kissing in front of Cameron.

"Hey man, it's cool. I understand what the heat of battle does to some people."

Nico's eyes secretly darted to Cameron's pants, where a bulge had formed. He grabbed the sword off of the ground to cover up looking and hoped Percy hadn't noticed any of it. "Do you have some food around here?" he asked, "I'm suddenly starving."

"Yeah, I'll take you after we put the stuff away." Percy said, picking the hatchet up. They stored the weapons in the shed and Percy ran his finger along the mark Nico's hatchet had left on the door. He of course figured out what had happened, but decided not to embarass Nico in front of Cameron. As they walked to the lunch hall Percy was a little bit annoyed that Cameron was still following them, but didn't want to be rude by telling him to go away. All three had some lunch together, Nico's consisting mostly of fruit.

"So are you vegan, or just vegetarian?" Cameron asked as he watched Nico shovel some pineapple into his mouth.

Nico swallowed and laughed a little, "Neither. I just really like fruit."

"Do you eat meat, though?"

Percy snickered and Nico fought a smile, knowing why he was laughing, "Yeah, I eat meat."

Cameron looked at them both, "What's so funny?" he watched Nico lick the tip of a grape before eating it and he blushed, "Oh. You guys are gross."

Both broke into full laughter until Nico choked on his own spit and had to stop to get a drink, "Sorry, it was just too funny to pass up."

"So Cameron, do you... eat meat?" Percy asked, turning red, but dead serious.

Cameron swallowed slowly, "Maybe, why?"

He shrugged, "Just curious."

"I choose not to discuss it." Cameron said in a tone that said, "Don't go there."

"That's fine."

"Sorry."

"Nah, it's ok."

Nico decided to change the subject, "So when does this place open?"

Percy turned to Nico. He always got excited when people asked about his new camp and Nico could tell that he was about to get his ears talked off, so he made himself comfortable on the lunch table seat. Cameron excused himself and left while Percy launched into his story about how the camp is supposed to open in June, but he still had positions to fill and some of the cabins weren't finished yet and etc etc.

Later that night the two were sitting on the dock of the lake behind Percy's cabin, dipping their toes in the water.

"Are you going back home tonight?" Percy asked, speaking to Nico, but looking up at the stars.

"I don't think I need to. School's right over there. I just need some clothes that aren't yours to wear tomorrow."

"You should bring some just to leave here all the time." Percy said quietly, afraid Nico would shit on the idea.

"Yeah, that'd be a good idea." he didn't like the idea of having to be at camp to be with Percy, but he was willing to deal with it.

"You mean it?" Percy asked, trying not to sound too excited.

"I mean it." Nico said, leaning over and kissing Percy. He then laid back on the dock, just staring up into the sky. He felt Percy lay next to him and he moved to be closer to him, feeling the taller man's warmth.

From the side of a nearby cabin Cameron watched them. He hated to break up such a cute couple, but he wanted him, and Cameron always got what he wanted.

~*~*~ This chapter took me a while. It's a bit jumbled, but I wanted to pack in a lot of information for the next chapter. Depending on my hours at work, hopefully the next chapter comes a lot faster than this one. I hope you're still enjoying it and I still love you ^.^ Hehe.


	4. Like Poison

Nico was tending to his sunflowers, wearing his huge headphones and headbanging as he pulled up the weeds surrounding them. The flowers were still just sprouting, but doing well. He looked up at the now non-existant ceiling, where sunlight filled every corner now. He loved this place. He thought about going to see Arachne when he was finished with the flowers. It was kind of nice to know that this place was protected. Nico had become quite protective of his flowers and didn't want any vandals to have the chance to destroy them. He finished up and turned his headphones down before going over to visit with the spider woman.

Meanwhile Percy was continuing work on the new camp. They had fallen behind and he was feeling stressed. He wasn't satisfied with the name that had been chosen, but "Camp West" was the only name that the majority agreed on. He looked at the sign and sighed. He reserved the right to change it as soon as he thought of a better name. He looked at his watch and sighed again. Nico said he'd be there by now. School was finally out for the summer, and Nico had promised to be around more. Percy understood that Nico liked his space, though, so he wasn't expecting his boyfriend to be around 24/7. He was excited for Nico to show up today, though. He had finished the Hades cabin and hadn't even told his lover that he was building it. Suddenly Cameron was coming toward him. The blonde had become something of a friend to both Percy and Nico. Sometimes he didn't know when to leave, though, so Percy was never sure if he was glad to see the guy or not.

"Hey." Cameron said, "Is Nico here yet?"

Percy shook his head, "Nope."

"That's too bad. He knows he's supposed to be coming today, right?"

"Yeah."

"You guys talking about me?" the two heard Nico's voice as he emerged from a shadow cast by the large camp sign. Percy quickly walked to meet him and hugged him. "Sorry I'm late," he said, "I got into a lengthy conversation with Arachne."

"Spiders scare me." Cameron piped in and the two looked at him.

"Well, Arachne's a woman as far as I'm concerned." Nico said, "Anyway, I'm going to put my stuff in your room." he gave Percy a quick peck and left toward the Poseidon cabin. Percy watched him leave, and from the corner of his eye he saw Cameron watching him too. The blonde had a bad habit of staring with Nico, and it didn't go unnoticed by Percy. Percy wasn't too concerned, though. He trusted Nico enough.

"He seems in a pretty good mood so far." Cameron mentioned as they both started toward the cabin to meet back up with Nico.

"Yeah. We'll see if that continues when the campers show up and figure out who he is." Percy answered and then stopped walking. "Um, do you mind if I just hang out with Nico for a while?"

Cameron stopped walking too and looked down sheepishly, "Oh... yeah, no problem. I have to see how the canoes are going, anyway." he said, quickly turning and leaving. Percy just continued walking to his cabin. Sometimes he felt bad for having to tell Cameron to go away, but other times he really didn't understand what Cameron's problem was. When he got to the cabin Nico was leaning on the frame of the open door, waiting for him. Percy felt like a dork because looking at Nico had him suddenly unable to feel his knees. It was early summertime, but Nico was wearing a large black hoodie. The darkness of the sweater brought out the contrasting brightness of his lover's skin and made his dark stare more noticeable. The sun was caught in the large waves of Nico's black hair, shining off the the dark locks in a strange, angelic way. Nico bit his lip.

"You make me nervous when you stare like that."

Percy swooned again, but played it cool by grabbing onto the railing of the steps up to his cabin. He loved how Nico still had no idea what kind of power he held over the son of Poseidon.

"I'm glad you came alone." Nico spoke again. He sounded older, somehow.

"Me too."

Nico grabbed the other man by the shoulder of his shirt and pulled him into the cabin.

Cameron was bored. He was running out of things to do at the camp. The few campers there had already claimed the place as their second home, but it was more like a boarding house than a camp at this point. He kicked at the dirt, not wanting to play babysitter to them right now. Finally he walked over to the Poseidon cabin. Nico and Percy had had enough alone time together. It was his turn to share the attention. He knocked on the door, courteous enough not to barge in. Nico answered it, nodding his greeting as he wiped his mouth with a tissue. Cameron looked past him to see Percy buckling his pants and the blonde's face flushed, realizing the action he had just missed. Nico smirked knowingly and pushed past Cameron, who turned and followed Nico down the steps, Percy following closely behind.

x.x.x

Nico was sitting on the roof of his cabin. His feet nearly touched the ground, as the majority of the cabin was beneath it. Percy had been very clever with his choice of making the cabin like a basement home; it was private and similar to his underworld room, with little possibility of being vandalized. Still, Nico preferred to be out in the fresh air most of the time. A body sat next to him and he looked over to see Cameron. His stomach turned a little. Lately something about Cameron was bothering Nico, but he couldn't pinpoint what it was, so he ignored it for the most part.

"You smell like dirt." the blonde said.

"Percy likes it." Nico replied, used to the other man's blunt comments. He was one who often didn't think before speaking.

"Yeah..." Cameron trailed off, then looked at Nico, "You spit?" he suddenly asked.

Nico looked at him in a way that said, 'You're really going to talk about that?' and just said, "I'm not a cannibal." He pulled his long sleeves further down.

Cameron shrugged, "I've just never known anyone who does."

"Anyway..." Nico said, desperate to change the conversation, "That's none of your business. Let's go get Percy."

The two made their way over to the office, where the daughter of Tyche was going over something with Percy. She looked up and paled. Nico noticed this and saw that Cameron was giving her a terrible, hateful stare. He cleared his throat and stepped between them. Percy looked up and smiled, "Hey, sorry. Almost done."

"Percy, the camp opens tomorrow, whether you have your work done or not." Cameron said.

The daughter of Tyche looked over at them, "But he needs to-"

"Shuttup, Alice." Cameron said darkly.

Nico pushed him out of the office, "Hey, not cool, man."

Cameron sighed angrily, "I know. I just don't understand why Percy has her helping with money, when she spends way too much on things we don't need and takes it away from others."

"Percy probably just thought it made sense that the daugther of the Goddess of luck and fortune would help him with the books."

Cameron's anger dissipated, "I guess you're right. Still, it's just not fair."

"Yeah yeah, justice and vengeance and all of that. Having Nemesis for a mama must be frustrating."

"It is."

Percy came out of the office, "Okay, I'm free now. Guess what, guess what?"

Nico quickly pecked Percy, "What what?"

"Bonfire!"

Cameron quirked a brow, "Bonfire?"

Both dark haired men looked at him, "BONFIRE!"

Nico nudged him, "It's like the camp equivalent of a rager."

"Rager? Were you raised in the 90's?"

"Bite me."

"Anyway," Percy interrupted, "I've decided to put you in charge." he said, looking at Nico.

"Whaa?"

"Yep. You need something to do."

"I guess." Nico said, none too excited.

Percy grabbed him closer, "Aww, are we moody today?"

Nico pulled his sleeves down again. It was a habit he'd picked up since coming to camp, "No, just tired."

"Are you cold? Are you getting sick?" Percy asked, noting Nico's long sleeves.

"No..." he glanced toward Cameron for a moment. Something about the guy's stare made him feel icky and exposed, but he lied for Percy's sake, "I just don't want to get sunburned."

Percy nodded, "Fair enough. So, who wants lunch?"

"Me!" Cameron said excitedly. He wrapped his arm around Percy's waist and Nico was about to chop the blonde's arm off when his other arm circled the smaller man's waist and he pushed both toward the mess cabin. Percy caught the murderous look and smiled a little. It was cute when Nico's jealous side showed. It made him feel special to belong to him.

x.x.x

Nico was laying in his bed, staring at the ceiling. He could hear all of the campers outside, starting the party without him. Some campers from Half-Blood had come to check the new camp out, but most were newbies that Percy and Grover had found. Nico had just gotten back from helping his father decide who got to go where, which always left him feeling guilty in some way. Who was he to judge? Sure, his father had the final say, but Hades often heeded Nico's suggestions. They both had soft spots for the romantic souls; those who had done terrible things in the name of love. Not too terrible, mind you, but reasoning was certainly taken into consideration.

He was dressed in traditional robes, which usually made him feel like a badass, but not tonight. He knew Cameron would be there and he didn't like the idea of so much flesh exposed around the blonde. He considered layering up, but Percy had started asking too many questions. He didn't want to tell his boyfriend to get rid of Cameron just because he wasn't sure if he was a good guy or not. He sighed and got off of his bed, looking in a mirror. He put on a ring set with a protective stone, which made him feel a little better. He looked into the mirror again. Shit, he looked like his father. He hastily turned away and found his shoes and then finally he was walking up the steps out of his cabin to join the bonfire festivities.

"Wow, haven't seen you dressed like that in a while." Percy said.

"Yeah, I just got back from home and didn't feel like changing. Am I the only one who went traditional?"

"Nope." said Cameron, by Percy's side as usual, "I've seen a few others, but I suspect some are just having a toga party."

"That's fine." Nico looked around. The fire was already huge and people were dancing around it. He recognized a few. He started to move through the crowd, looking for his coveted fruit table. The crowd split like the Red Sea in front of him. Everyone knew who he was. Some were afraid and others just respected his power. He tried to smile nicely at everyone, even though inside he was a mix of feeling awesome and nervous at the stares. Percy was behind him, his ADHD going crazy between all of the activities, the fire, and watching his boyfriend's shadowy robes sweeping over the dirt.

"Yay! Mango!" Nico said excitedly as he approached the fruit table. Percy caught up to him and got an orange-yellow chunk shoved in his face, "Dude, it's fucking mango!" Nico said before shoving it into his own mouth.

"I could only imagine if you ever got into drugs or something," Percy laughed, "I think you secretly have an addictive personality."

"There's no secret about it." Nico said, already eating from a handful of grapes.

"When you're done I want to go dance."

Nico laughed, "You don't dance."

"Well fine, I want to rub up on my boyfriend in public and show you off."

"Ah, so the truth comes out." Nico finished a pineapple chunk and looked around, "Where's Cameron?"

Percy shrugged, "I don't know. Maybe he knows that I just want to hang out with you tonight."

"Maybe." Nico said, looking around anyway.

"Come on, let's go dance." Percy grabbed the smaller man's hand and pulled him into the crowd of moving bodies. Again the crowd moved to make room for them. Percy could feel their stares, and the heat from the fire, and the natural coolness of Nico's body, all at once. Eventually the crowd started moving in on them, so they danced even closer to each other. Percy still couldn't dance for beans, but Nico's swaying lead him in the right directions and he worked with it. At one point he felt Nico's grip around his waist become tighter. Through the firelight he saw Cameron behind his lover, dancing. Figuring that Nico was trying to make room for him, Percy loosened the younger man's grip and moved to let Cameron dance with them. Nico complied, glad that the lack of light hid the fact that his stomach was rolling. He felt totally invaded. He watched as Cameron's hands started roaming Percy's body, pretending to be his own. He stepped between the two men to make a kind of Nico sandwich, protecting his lover from Cameron's touches. Instead Cameron began grinding against him, hands touching his naked waist, gripping harder than neccessary. Nico clung to Percy, who was oblivious to anything but Nico's body gyrating against him. Finally Nico couldn't stand Cameron's touches and roughly pulled Percy out of the dancing crowd.

The sensation of cooler air and darker light made Percy wake up from his lusty stupor. Nico was panting, leaning against a tree and closing his eyes. Percy rushed next to him, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Nico lied, "It was just getting too hot in there."

"I'll go get you some water. Just rest here and don't move." Percy quickly left and Nico stared up at the trees. He had to tell Percy about Cameron. What would he say, though? 'I don't like the way he touches us?' It wasn't like it happened often, and maybe that was just how Cameron was. Maybe he just didn't understand boundaries. Still, Percy had to know, right? Before he came to a decision Percy was back, pressing a cup of cool water to his lips. No matter what, Nico knew that Percy loved him.

"I love you." Nico said, desperately needing to hear it back.

Percy looked at him curiously, "I love you too, sweetie. Seriously, what's wrong?"

"Yeah Nico, you've been weird lately." Cameron said behind them. Blue and green eyes were staring at the younger man, and he shrunk a little, choosing to lie again.

"I think it's just too much for me. All these people and stuff."

"Maybe we should go back to your cabin." Percy said, grabbing Nico's hand.

"I'm fine, I promise."

A brown haired boy appeared in their group and gave Cameron a look, "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm going to go dance some more." the blonde said, touching Percy's shoulder for just a little bit too long and winking at Nico when he shied away from a similar gesture, "See you boys later."

"You sure you're okay, Nico?" Percy asked, the concern in his eyes ripping Nico apart.

"No..." Nico said, then his eye caught Cameron staring at him through the crowd. Cameron licked up the brown haired boy's neck, and then smiled at Nico. That just pissed Nico off. He grabbed Percy's hand and led him back into the crowd to dance. He wasn't going to let Cameron mess with him. From here he couldn't even see him. He focused on Percy, just Percy. He was all that mattered. They danced together for what seemed like hours. They only stopped when enough people had left to make the area feel empty.

Percy looked at Nico when they stopped, "You seem better than before."

"Yeah. I feel a little better."

Percy kissed Nico, "Let's go. We can clean up tomorrow." he took his hand and started toward the forest. Nico's cabin was hidden a few feet in the trees to keep wandering campers away. Percy was tripping over things in the darkness and Nico laughed.

"Would you like me to lead?" he asked.

"Actually..." Percy started. Being somewhat able to see in the darkness, Nico watched as Percy bit his lip, "Would it be weird if we...?"

Nico laughed again, "Seriously? You can't wait?"

Percy blushed, "I can, but that doesn't mean that I want to." he kissed the smaller man.

Nico contemplated for a moment. Why the hell not? Nobody else should be in that part of the camp, and he should be able to see them before they saw him and Percy. "Okay." he said shyly and then kissed Percy. His body responded pretty quickly. It seemed like it had been ages since they had done anything and he almost felt oversensitive because of it. He ended the kiss and looked around until he found a nice little spot under a tree and pinned Percy against the trunk, kissing him needily. Percy was quick to reciprocate, adding his tongue to the kiss. He turned the two around so that Nico was against the tree and Nico whimpered as the bark scratched his naked back. Percy's hands were up inside his robes and the older one chuckled.

"Should have figured you'd go commando under that."

"I always do." Nico said, already breathless. He put his arms around Percy's neck and pulled them down to the ground. They made out that way for a while, Nico in Percy's lap and Percy groping him under his robes. Percy turned them over again so that Nico was laying on his back with his knees on either side of Percy's hips. His robes had fallen to his waist, exposing his legs to the cool night air.

"Is this okay? Do you want to lay on my shirt?" Percy asked.

Nico almost wanted to cry. Percy was always so sweet and loving to him. He nodded, then remembered Percy couldn't see in the darkness, "Yeah, gimme your shirt, please."

Percy pulled it off and Nico sat up while he blindly laid it on the ground, assuming Nico would know where to lay. Nico laid down and they resumed making out, grinding against each other slowly. Percy licked up Nico's neck and the smaller one shuddered, feeling Percy's satisfied smile. It wasn't enough, though.

"Percy." Nico panted, "I need it."

"I don't want to hurt you. I don't have anything with me."

"I'll be fine." Nico pulled Percy into another kiss. He hated going dry, but this time he didn't care. He gasped when he felt Percy's fingers inside of him.

"You okay?"

Nico was starting to hate that phrase falling from Percy's lips. It was making him feel like a terrible person for lying all the time. "Yeah. You can go faster."

Percy laughed and went a little bit faster, but not too much. He didn't want to hurt his boyfriend if he could help it. He couldn't see anything this far in the forest, but somehow that made it hotter. He knew Nico's body so well that he already knew what each gasp and moan meant, and could just imagine the faces the younger man was making. He added more fingers and heard Nico moan. He detected a little bit of pain in the noise he made, but Nico seemed adamant about getting it right now. Nico bit down on Percy's bottom lip as they kissed and whispered, "I'm ready." between kisses. Percy positioned himself with Nico's guidance and pushed in.

"Fuck." Nico whimpered. It had hurt even more than he had expected it to. He wanted it, though. He pulled Percy into a kiss before he could ask after his well being again. Percy carefully started to move, listening to Nico's breathing because he couldn't see his face. Nico's cold hands were grabbing at his body, making him shiver. Then his lover moaned and a green light went off in his head. He held onto Nico's knees and pushed in harder. Nico moaned again, his mind screaming Percy's name as he completely surrendered to him. He was his.

To his left he heard something, but Percy hadn't seemed to notice. Nico peered into the darkness. He should have figured. The brunette boy and Cameron were stumbling into the forest. At one point Cameron glanced over at them and Nico wondered if he could see in the dark as well, but it was hard to tell. Several feet away, Cameron pushed the brunette to the ground. Percy heard the distinctive sounds of two men making out and snickered quietly.

"Do you think they know we're here?" Percy whispered, eyes searching the darkness for the two.

"If they do, they don't seem to care. Come on." He thrust his hips upwards, reminding Percy what they were doing. Percy resumed moving his hips, but did it slowly. Nico made a frustrated noise and pulled at his boyfriend. Percy took the hint and moved faster, soon forgetting about his audience as the pleasure hit his brain. He wished he could watch Nico's face, but not being able to seemed to heighten his other senses. He could smell the dirt they were laying on mixed with Nico's typical earthy cemetery smell. He felt his knees digging into the ground and his thighs sliding against Nico's. He could hear Nico's heavy breathing covering up the soft pants a few feet away. He felt Nico grab one of his hands and kiss his fingertips. It was a sweet gesture in the middle of chaos, like Nico was telling Percy that it wasn't just about the sex.

Nico released Percy's hand and looked to the side. Through the darkness he saw the brunette on his hands and knees with Cameron behind him. Nico was about to look away when Cameron turned and locked eyes with him. There was no way Cameron knew where to look, and Nico panicked. Nyx. Cameron's grandmother of sorts, she was the goddess of the night. Shit. Cameron *could* see in the dark, possibly better than Nico could. In an attempt to be intimidating, Nico stared back, no he glared back. Cameron grabbed the brunette's hips and pushed into him hard, making the other man moan loudly. The blonde licked his lips and smirked at Nico, refusing look away. The stare was saying, "This is you." and Nico suddenly felt as if it really were Cameron inside of him. If "No" were a feeling, Nico's body was feeling it just then. Suddenly everything seemed terrible and wrong and was caving in on him. Percy's body on top of him was making him claustrophobic and the feelings being brought to his body felt like unwanted violations. He tried to control himself, but his body had other plans and started in on a panic attack.

At first Percy just thought Nico's gasps were him losing control, then he heard the smaller man sniffle and he froze. Had he hurt Nico that badly? He felt like shit, even if his lover had said it was okay. There was a good hurt and a bad hurt. Nico protested when Percy stopped and tried to keep their hips moving, but even in the darkness the other man could tell that Nico was trembling. He carefully pulled out and hugged the body close.

"I'm sorry, Nico. I didn't mean for it to hurt that much."

Nico sobbed again and then composed himself long enough to tell Percy that it wasn't that. Suddenly he turned away from the other man and Percy heard the distinct sounds of his boyfriend puking, most likely all over the shirt that was beneath them. He quickly pulled Nico up and stumbled to the Hades cabin.

"I'm ok." Nico assured Percy as they entered his cabin.

"You can be such a bad liar sometimes." Percy said, but let Nico stand on his own anyway.

"Yeah..." was all Nico said before heading to the bathroom. He cleaned himself up and Percy had the sense to let him alone as he did. When he returned to his room he was glad that Percy was still there. His lover handed him some sleeping clothes and his giant hoodie that he wore when he wasn't feeling well. Nico dressed and then crawled into bed.

"Do you want me to stay here tonight?" Percy asked as he pulled the covers over the smaller man.

"Yes please." Nico said with his eyes shut tight. He just wanted the situation over, not to mention that he really did feel sick. What had that been? Did Cameron really get into his head, or had he let his obsessive hatred get the best of him? He had to let Percy know what was going on, but not tonight. He just wanted to sleep now. He felt Percy crawl into bed with him and then hold him close. Nico wanted to sob, but he held it in and pushed as close to Percy as he could before falling asleep.

The next day Nico felt worse. His body ached from the poor decision to go dry and he still felt ill. He figured it was the flu or something. He ended up staying in his cabin a few days and Percy checked on him every so often. Nico's heart ached at the worry on Percy's face, and he wished himself better, but it was like something was keeping him sick. To his dismay Cameron showed up with Percy one night.

"Hey Nico, feeling better yet?" he asked, sitting on the foot of Nico's bed. Nico had to fight hard not to turn him into a column of flame, and he only resisted because that would have lit his bed on fire as well.

"Does it look like I'm feeling better?"

Cameron reached out and touched Nico's forehead before the younger one could move away, "Hmm... not much of a fever."

"He maybe ate some bad fruit on bonfire night or something." Percy suggested, biting his thumbnail in a new nervous tick he had developed. Cameron quickly agreed.

Cameron said to wait there and that he would come back with something to help. When he returned he carried a glass full of questionably colored liquid. Nico glared at the glass. Who knew what Cameron had put in it. It was then that a thought occured to him. Cameron knew exactly what was in it, just as he probably knew exactly what had made Nico sick. If he had meant to poison Nico, though, why hadn't he used something stronger? Out of sheer curiosity Nico drank the contents of the glass. Cameron gave him a smirk and Nico's stomach turned as he remembered Cameron smirking at him that night.

Nico felt better the next day. He knew for sure that Cameron had done something now. The question was what he was going to do with that information. There was no way to prove it, especially since Cameron had been the one to give him the miracle cure. There was no way he could let the creep stick around anymore, though. Nico had to come up with a plan to get rid of the blonde.

Oh noes, Cameron is a bad guy. This is kind of short, I know. I was just really having a hard time with it, and rather than make you wait even longer, I've decided to split it up into two. I hope you still like me, heh. 


	5. Planting Seeds

Nico rubbed his eyes to try and get rid of the black webs in the corners of his vision. He was making his way back from the arena. Those kids had given him a run for his money, but he refused to pass out in front of them. He walked to the dock and sat down, waiting to start healing. He watched the water, thinking of his boyfriend. Percy was busy all the time, but whenever he had a moment to spare he would spend it with Nico. Of course Cameron was always there, too. Nico chewed his lip and gasped when it hurt. He had done so enough to break the skin on his mouth and it felt infected. He made a note to visit the nursing cabin to try and let it heal without a scar. He laid back and looked up at the sky. He was tired. Not just from fighting, but from everything, it seemed. He had tried to tell Percy about Cameron, but it seemed like he never got a moment alone. His eyes began to close. Lately it seemed that sleeping was easier than dealing with his problems, so he slept often.

Nico's skin was crawling. It itched and burned with whatever was on it. He got up from the dock and looked at his skin, but couldn't see anything. He wiped at it, but the burning just became worse. In a desperate attempt he plunged into the water from the dock. He emerged from the water with a gasp. The burning had stopped. He looked at his skin again and his stomach dropped. His hands were black, as though he had been playing in ashes. He tried to wash them off in the water, but the blackness wouldn't come off. It just seemed to spread even more. Nico's heart sped up and his breathing became labored. Shit. Water was not a good place to have a panic attack. He tried to swim to the dock, but he felt stuck. His legs wouldn't move. Upon realizing that, Nico's body began to sink. He frantically moved his arms to keep his head above water, but it wasn't working. He choked on the water and his vision melted as the water splashed into his wide open eyes. As he sank further into the water he stared helplessly at the dock. That was when he saw a hand reaching out for him. He tried to grab it, but then the hand pulled away. Nico looked up and saw Cameron smirking at him. He watched helplessly as Cameron put out his foot and pushed Nico underneath the water.

"Oh man, he's going to feel that tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? Try a few hours."

Nico's ears perked at the voices before he opened his eyes. Sunlight blared into them and he closed them again. Great. He had fallen asleep on the deck in front of everyone.

"Oh good, he's awake. Let's help him out, Nate."

Nico felt people pulling him up from his laying position and he opened his eyes again as he stood up. There was a younger man with mousey brown hair and another one with sandy red, helping him to stand on his feet. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he was too tired to ask.

"I think we should take him to the infirmary."

Nico felt himself being guided off of the dock and over to the hospital cabin. On the way people stared at him, but not the usual way. He was laid down in a bed and got something rubbed all over his skin. He was scared, but at the same time way too tired to really think about it. Once he was let alone he fell asleep again.

This time when he opened his eyes he felt very awake. His body hurt with a strange ache that he couldn't name. He panicked. What had Cameron done this time? He tried to sit up, but his body screamed in protest. Just then Percy came in. First his eyes were wide with surprise, and then he smirked just a little bit.

"Nico, did you fall asleep on the dock?"

"Apparently." Shit. Even his face hurt, "Percy, what's wrong with me?"

Percy sat down next to Nico's bed and poured out some lotion that was on the bedstand, "You don't know?"

Nico blushed, "No. Tell me."

Percy started to rub the lotion onto Nico's skin. The coolness of the lotion calmed the burning, "Have you ever been sunburned?"

"No."

"Well, that makes sense, pasty boy. Anyway, you've got a bad one from falling asleep in the midday sun."

How embarrassing. Nico sank into the bed in shame. He hated it when he was sometimes so... human. Weak.

"How long is it going to hurt?"

"That depends on your healing process, but I'll bet a day or two. Oh dude, just wait 'til you start peeling."

Nico closed his eyes, "Gross."

Percy laughed, "You're so cute. I'm going to have fun taking care of you." he kissed Nico's forehead, "That's so weird."

"What?" Nico panicked, thinking that something else was horribly wrong.

"Your skin is warm instead of cold."

"Tell me about it."

It was then that Nico realized something.

"Where's Cameron?"

Percy shrugged, "I think he was messing with canoes or something."

"Well, I know this will sound lame, but um, would you stay here for a while if you can? Just the both of us?" Nico asked, feeling small and childish.

Percy smiled, "Of course. I really do wish we had more alone time together. Hopefully soon I won't be so busy."

"Percy, you're running a camp. Of course you're always going to be busy."

"I guess that's true. Still, things might calm down a little."

"Yeah. Maybe Cameron will make new friends or something."

Percy laughed, "Maybe."

x.x.x

Nico healed quickly. He almost wished that he hadn't, because every night Percy rubbed him down with lotion, and he liked the attention. He looked at his skin and sighed. His olive skintone had shown up in all of its tanned glory to protect him from further injury. He didn't like it. He didn't feel as pure or something. Then again, Percy seemed to take a liking to it. He told him so as he put the lotion on the previous night. Percy had also tried to sleep with Nico, but got shot down. Nico told him it was because his skin still hurt a little, but really it was because ever since that night in the forest, sex with Percy had been ruined. It always felt like Cameron, and was unwanted and invading. He didn't know why it still felt that way, but it did, and his stomach turned every time Percy touched him.

Cameron continued to plague Nico's nightmares, but he hadn't actually seen the guy in days. Nico was somewhat surprised. He had figured the guy for one to kick people when they were down. Of course, that didn't mean that he was happy to see the guy right when he walked out of his cabin. He purposely ignored the blonde, who seemed to have been waiting for him. During his sunburn recovery, he had decided that he would have to be the proactive one about getting rid of the guy. Phase one: stop being friendly with him. If he stopped being friendly with him, maybe Cameron would get the hint that he didn't want to be friends. Phase two: Let Percy make the decision on his own. Both being stubborn boys, Nico knew that in order for Percy to "feel right" about getting rid of Cameron, it would have to be his idea. Nico figured that once he and Cameron weren't friends, Percy would start to notice all of the bad that Cameron did. Give it a while to boil, and then voila! They would be rid of Cameron and nobody would have to stab anybody.

"In a mood, are we?" Cameron teased behind him. Nico just kept walking. He hated being mean to people, but he had to do something. Cameron continued to follow him to the main part of camp, "Hey, what's up with you?" Nico kept walking and Cameron pulled his shoulder roughly, "Hey! Stop ignoring me!"

Nico whipped around and gave Cameron a hard stare before wrenching his shoulder from the other man's grip. He started walking faster, but heard Cameron speed his own steps.

"Seriously, what is your problem?" he heard the blonde shouting behind him. Cameron grabbed him again, hugging Nico to his body and pinning the smaller man's arms at his sides, "Talk to me."

"Please leave me alone." Nico said quietly. He hated how weak it had sounded. No way Cameron would buy it.

"What?"

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Nico shouted, stomping on Cameron's foot and forcing him to let go. He turned around with his Stygian blade at the ready, "I swear, touch me again and I'll rip out your insides."

Cameron's eyebrows raised and he lifted his hands in "innocence." He moved an arm out and Nico's arm twitched. "Holy fuck, I'm just grabbing my lip balm. Relax. I forgot you don't like other guys touching you."

Nico kept his blade at the ready as he watched Cameron use said lip balm. He knew that Cameron was stalling to gain some kind of composure, and he didn't trust what the other man might do given the chance. He wasn't sure what the last sentence had meant, but that wasn't important now.

"So what about Percy?" the blonde asked.

"He's free to choose who he hangs out with."

Cameron smiled a suspiciously satisfied smile, "Fair enough. See you around, Nico." he casually passed the smaller man, who followed his path with his blade, and then continued into the camp. Nico stood there a while longer before putting his blade away. He knew things weren't going to be that easy. Cameron's smile said it all.

A while later Nico walked into the mess hall and found Percy and Cameron already eating. Nothing new, but now Nico wasn't sure how to play it. He sat down and Percy stretched across the table to kiss him. Nico met him halfway and when they parted he glanced at Cameron, who seemed lost in thought. What Nico wanted to do was kiss Percy some more in front of him, but he wasn't actually into PDA. He just wanted to remind the blonde who Percy belonged to.

"So I hear you two aren't talking." Percy said between bites.

Nico looked over at Cameron, "Nope."

Surprisingly Percy just shrugged, "I wondered how long it was going to take you."

"What?"

"I just mean you guys haven't gotten along for a while."

Cameron chimed in, "But we're not going to make you choose." he looked at Nico, "Nico and I are just going to ignore each other for the most part."

"Hmm." Percy said doubtfully.

"Dude, your hair is all messed up on the side." Cameron said, reaching up to smooth it down. Percy laughed, saying "Thanks grandma, at least you didn't spit in it."

Nico wanted to chop off that foul hand in Percy's hair, but instead he just bit the inside of his cheek. He knew exactly what the other man was doing. He told himself that it didn't matter; he was the one who was in Percy's bed at night. Now that he thought about it, it would be wise to let Percy sleep with him tonight. If he was cold for too long Nico would have no reason to be surprised when he was left. He decided to start the seduction now. He grabbed one of the strawberries from his plate and as they talked he put it up to his mouth and licked it as though about to eat it, then he'd talk again. He knew he had Percy because green eyes were locked on his mouth. As soon as Cameron noticed, though, Nico ate the strawberry quickly. He continued this little game with just about everything he ate, loving the moment when Percy didn't hear what Cameron had said to him because he was too busy watching Nico tease his mouth with a grape.

"What was that?" he asked, turning away from Nico.

"I said it's time to go make sure stuff is ready for the campers this afternoon."

"Oh right." he turned to Nico, "We're gonna let them ride a Pegasus today."

"That'll be fun for them." Nico said, "I have to visit my dad tomorrow."

"Aww, I don't want you to leave." Percy pouted.

"I promise I'll be back soon. Plus we'll just have to be sure to see a lot of each other in the next few hours." Nico said, saying it in such a way to let Percy know it had sexual conotations.

Percy leaned over and kissed him again. Cameron pulled at his arm, "Come on, let's go."

"Okay okay." Percy looked at Nico, "See you tonight."

"Of course."

As the other two left Nico smiled to himself. So far things were going pretty well. To make sure that they stayed that way, though, tonight had to be amazing.

That night Percy came back to an empty cabin. He was slightly disappointed, but trusted Nico to show up before he went to bed. He got into the shower and was washing his hair when he felt someone wrap their arms around his torso. He turned around to see Nico, who put his hands into the taller man's hair and helped work the shampoo in. Percy shivered as the smaller man's nails raked across his scalp and Nico kissed him, making the shivers more intense.

"I love you." Percy said, "I really do."

Nico smiled, "Well, I'm glad, because I love you too."

He pushed Percy back under the water to rinse the soap out. A while later found Percy shutting the water off. The two made their way to Percy's bed, kissing on the way there. Percy stared as Nico's wet hair soaked the pillow beneath him, creating a dark halo around his head. The other man stared up at him wantingly, and pulled him down for a kiss. Percy moaned into Nico's cold mouth and pulled his hips up to grind against him.

Nico moaned, but inside his head was screaming. The touches felt so wrong, so different. He knew that this was Percy, and he didn't understand why he felt someone else's hands on him. He pet Percy's skin to remind him that he was real. Percy was there and Cameron was not. Percy shivered at his touches and kissed down Nico's neck. The smaller man closed his eyes and tried to remember what Percy's touches felt like. He gasped when the other man's mouth slid down his erection. Wait, if he could still get it up even though the touches felt wrong, what did that mean? For now, what it meant was that he could keep his poker face. He slid his fingers into Percy's dark hair and encouraged him to continue. Percy had never been very good at this particular sport, but tonight he seemed determined to impress the other man. In spite of everything, Nico found his body responding very well to Percy's stimulation.

"Percy..." he moaned. He wasn't sure what he was going to say, but Percy took it to mean to go faster. Nico's thighs trembled and he gripped the pillow on either side of his head as he felt the familiar feeling building in his stomach. His mind was swimming between wanting to call out Percy's name or calling out Cameron's. It flashed between the true image in front of his eyes and imagining Cameron's mouth moving up and down his shaft. He grit his teeth, trying to concentrate. Something was very fucked up, but he would die if he said the wrong name. Green eyes looked up at him and gave a cheeky wink and Nico lost it. As he came he had a strange feeling. It was as though he had broken through something.

"Damn, it has been a long time, hasn't it?" Percy asked, winking at Nico. He delighted in the blush that flushed Nico's face. He crept up and kissed the younger man's lips, feeling them form a smile against his own. Nico pulled Percy close and held him as he recovered.

"You smell pretty." Nico said quietly.

"Well duh, I'm freshly showered."

"Me too."

Percy kissed Nico's forehead, "Not so much anymore."

"Don't worry, I'll make you dirty, too."

Nico started to kiss Percy again. Whatever he had broken through had gotten rid of that icky feeling. He wasn't sure if it was temporary or not, so he decided to do as much as possible. Besides, he wanted it. He really did love Percy, and this was one of his favorite things for them to share together. He laid down as Percy crawled back on top of him. The way Percy was looking down at Nico assured him about the other man's feelings. Fuck Cameron. He'd never get moments like these.

"I love your hair when it's super curly." Percy said, playing with it.

Nico didn't like his curly hair, but was going to accept the compliment. He blushed and pulled Percy down for another kiss. He needed Percy more than he'd ever admit. Sometimes he thought Percy knew; it was just a look in his eyes, but they never acknowledged it. As Percy kissed across Nico's skin the smaller man wondered what would happen if he said it. Then the other man's lips found that spot on his neck and all thoughts stopped. All Nico could do was feel.

The next morning, Nico's black eyes were on Percy's sleeping form. Sunlight was coming in from the window, helping to show the little details. Nico thought that the light spattering of freckles across Percy's nose was adorable. He wondered if the scar on his forehead had happened as a child or after he had started fighting monsters. He'd never asked. Absentmindedly he ran his fingers across the little nick marring his lover's face. He looked toward the window. Nico knew that Percy needed to be up and helping to run the camp, but the selfish part of him kept him in the bed. They hadn't been able to just "be" in so long, he was reluctant to let it go. He curled into the warm body and fell back to sleep.

"Are you alive?"

Nico woke with a start at Cameron's voice. He made a grab for his blade before realizing that it was in his pants, which were still on Percy's floor.

"Ugh... no." Percy said, curling into his pillow.

"That's great, but we kind of need some help at the arena."

Percy turned on to his back and covered his eyes, "Fine. Gimme a second."

Cameron left and Percy turned and pulled Nico close to him again, "Why did you let me make my own camp? You know I hate hard work."

Nico laughed, "Because I know you secretly love the glory that comes with knowing you did all of the work."

"True." to Nico's dismay, Percy released his hold and sat up, "I need a shower so bad."

"Do it. Make Cameron wait." Nico said, also sitting up. His guts were sore from hours of lovemaking, but he was embarrassed to say it.

Percy kissed his lover's nose, "You're so mean."

Nico just shrugged before carefully moving out of the bed, "I need a shower too."

Percy walked to the other side of the bed and picked his lover up and headed to the bathroom. He hated to make Cameron wait, but he had to understand.

"Finally." Cameron said when the two emerged dressed and ready.

"Please, that was like 10 minutes tops."

"Yeah. Ten minutes that we don't have."

"I'll see you later." Nico said, hugging Percy, "I'm going to see what my dad needs me to do for a while."

"Okay." Percy kissed Nico, "Don't stay too long."

"I won't." He started to walk into the shadows when Percy grabbed his hand.

"When did you get that?" he asked, looking at a shiny ring on Nico's finger. Silly Percy and his ADHD.

Nico saw Cameron roll his eyes and look at his watch, but ignored him, "After I was sick." he felt Cameron's eyes dart to him.

"Amethyst." Cameron said, sounding as if the word burned his tongue to speak it.

Nico nodded, "Yep. Protects from poison." he looked purposely at Cameron when he said the word 'poison.'

"Neat." Percy said, oblivious to everything. He kissed Nico again, "See you later."

Nico waved and walked into a shadow in the corner of Percy's cabin.

"Come on, dude." Cameron said impatiently. He grabbed Percy's arm and pulled him out of the cabin. He had waited long enough to get the attention back on him.

x.x.x

"I like your hair longish like it is now." Cameron told Percy as they sat on the dock, watching the water.

Percy kicked the water, "Yeah."

Cameron could tell that Percy was distracted. He reached over and touched the other man's shoulder.

"What's wrong?"

"Nico's been gone a long time."

Cameron inwardly rolled his eyes. He ran his hand down Percy's back, "I'm sure he's fine." Not that Cameron cared, but if it made Percy feel better then that was okay.

"Yeah." Percy leaned back on his arms, "That feels nice." he said as Cameron continued to rub his back. After a day of hard work he really needed some TLC.

"It's supposed to."

Percy chuckled and looked up at the night sky. It was still warm outside, but he could feel that summer was ending. He also felt Cameron's fingers delving into his shirt collar and he sat up, moving away from Cameron and clearing his throat awkwardly, "We should be inside. It's getting dark." he said, standing up.

"You should be inside." Cameron winked up at Percy.

"Shut up." Percy playfully kicked him in the side. He felt weird with the way Cameron was acting, and he didn't know what to do except to laugh it off.

To his relief Cameron let him off the hook, "Yeah, I'm tired. Gotta get up early tomorrow." He held up his hand and Percy helped him get up. Cameron tried to hold his hand longer but Percy moved it away and started walking to his cabin. He heard Cameron rushing to catch up to his quick pace and then the young man was beside him. They walked together to Percy's cabin and Percy had to turn to the blonde, "Didn't you say you were going to bed?"

"I am in a second. I just wanted to stay with you a little longer." he moved to rest his head on Percy's shoulder and the other man moved it away.

"Don't do that." he said, feeling defensive.

Cameron pouted, "Sorry. I'm just so tired."

"Go to bed."

Cameron sighed, "Fine."

Percy stayed in front of his door, looking at Cameron expectantly. He hadn't moved yet. Something was making the dark haired warrior nervous, but he wasn't sure why. Then suddenly Cameron's face was crashing into his and he felt unfamiliar lips against his own and his defensive instincts kicked in and he roughly pushed Cameron away.

"What the f-" his words were cut off by another kiss as Cameron pushed him against the door of his cabin. Cameron kissed him three more times and then released the other man. Percy just stared at him. He moved in again and Percy pushed him away, "I think you need to leave me alone for a while."

"Percy, wait-"

"No." Percy quickly dodged inside his cabin, leaving Cameron alone. Cameron kicked the ground in frustration and started walking quickly to his cabin. He had botched it. In his head it had gone so much better. So romantic. So sweet. He had panicked and come on too strong. He kicked the door of the Nemesis cabin open, a few of the campers inside turning to stare. He just glared and went to his bed. He'd fix it.

Meanwhile Percy was leaning against the door inside of his cabin. He raised his fingers to his lips and touched them. Had Cameron really just kissed him? It had felt so different from Nico. So warm. Percy licked his lips as he told himself that he hadn't liked it. Shit. Things had just gotten complicated.

Percy heard Cameron sit down across from him at breakfast the next day, but he didn't look up from his blue oatmeal.

"Hey." Cameron said as he sat down.

"Hey." Percy said, refusing to look at the other man. He hated confrontation. He wished he could be like his boyfriend just then. Nico could have been all like, "Fuck you. I never want to see you again. Keep your hands off... etc."

"So, I was thinking we could finish the arena today. All we need to do is make sure the bleachers are stable." Cameron started.

"Yup."

"And maybe start painting the tool shed."

"Sure will."

Cameron took the opportunity to be bold, "And make-out some more."

Green eyes looked up in alarm, "Dude, shut the fuck up. Other people might hear."

"So?"

"So nothing. That was really not cool, dude." Percy mentally slapped himself. How lame was that?

Cameron sighed and looked at Percy meaningfully, "You only pushed me away the first time." With that he got up from the table, leaving Percy to stew.

Percy quickly went back to his cabin and tried to reach Nico via Iris message, but got nothing. He had to tell Nico what had happened right now. If he waited until Nico came back it would eat at his conscience. He tried to contact Hades, but just got an annoyed Persephone informing him that Hades was busy. How could the Underworld keep everyone so busy? Everyone was dead. Frustrated, Percy went back out of his cabin to find something to do that would allow him to ignore the blonde for a while.

Cameron was smart enough to leave Percy alone for a few days. He knew he had freaked the warrior out. He just couldn't help it. Percy had just looked so cute just then. He always looked so cute. Nico didn't appreciate Percy the way Cameron thought he should. Death in the form of a man, Cameron just couldn't tolerate Nico clouding Percy's beachy attitude. Of course, the blonde did understand Percy's attraction to the young man. His darkness was dangerous and seductive, much like Cameron's. Perhaps that was part of why Cameron couldn't stand the son of Hades; they were much too similar. In the end they were all kissing cousins, but Nico felt more like a brother. They shared the ability to shadow travel and see in the darkness. Then again, it was said that Nemesis was a daughter of Oceana, placing Cameron's relations closer to Percy, but that story didn't seem to fit with how he had turned out. His thoughts were interrupted when he caught sight of Percy sneaking into the woods.

Cameron followed Percy to where Nico's cabin stood. He watched the warrior try to open the door, only to find it locked. Percy sat on the low roof on the cabin and looked far into the forest. He looked upset, which broke Cameron's heart, but also made him feel like he had an opportunity. Percy was doubting. He didn't know if Nico would be coming back or not. He was panicking, possibly getting depressed. Who better to console him than Cameron? The blonde was ready to pounce, but told himself to wait another day. One more day for everything to sink in and then he would prey. Everyone would get what they deserved, and just the thought had Cameron feeling wonderful.

x.x.x

"I honestly don't know why you're even together sometimes. I mean, you barely see each other and when you do it's like you have nothing in common but sex and battles."

Percy turned to Annabeth, "You make those sound like bad things to have in common."

Annabeth sighed, "They're only bad because they're the only things. Think about it. You hate where he lives and he hates where you live and he doesn't like camp and you made a camp. He doesn't even like swimming, I bet."

"He swims with me."

"Naked swimming?"

Percy licked his teeth in frustration. He didn't like what Annabeth was saying. Mostly because she was telling the truth. Now that he thought about it, he and Nico really didn't have a lot of common interests. He never thought it mattered, though.

"I love him." he finally said, as if that would make everything better.

Annabeth gave him a serious look, "I know you do, and he loves you too, but sometimes love is not enough."

"It's enough for me."

"Is that why you look like a kicked puppy lately?"

Percy scowled, "No. He's just been gone a long time. I'm worried."

"Well he must not be worried about you."

"You don't know that."

"How long has he been gone?"

Percy felt a lump in his throat, but swallowed it, "Almost two months." he said quietly.

"Well he must not be worried about you if he's been gone that long and not said anything."

"What if something happened to him?" Percy's voice cracked and he cleared his throat.

Annabeth's stare softened, "That's the problem, Percy. He's gone like this so often that you don't even know if it's a bad thing or not. Doesn't that bother you at all?"

Percy twisted the hem of his shirt for lack of something better to do, "I don't know." he said almost inaudibly, then he looked at her, "I don't want to talk about this anymore."

"Fine, but it's really something you need to think about."

"Fine."

Meanwhile Nico was screaming. Ashes filled his nose and mouth, creeping into his lungs and making him choke. He blinked his burning eyes and looked around at the shouting people. He had lost count of all the times he had watched this scene before. Over and over the volcano erupted, the people screamed, the city died. Nico started to get used to the chaos and his mind began chanting "Cameron... Cameron..." with the frantic beating of his heart. He had come in Nico's dreams at first. Then one night Nico had been studying when a shadow fell across his light.

"How did you get in here?" Nico had asked stupidly.

"You're not the only one who can shadow travel." Cameron had said before grabbing Nico. Next thing he knew he was here. He wasn't sure how Cameron had managed to get him stuck "in-between." It wasn't technically Hades' domain, but it wasn't Nemesis' either.

"Now you will truly know." Cameron had said, shoving Nico into the abandoned city. He walked two steps and had found himself here, like walking through a curtain. The Roman city was alive again, as was Mount Vesuvius. Ash was spewing from the top, already covering the city. Nico looked at his skin. Dark smears were already covering it, just like in his dream. He looked up to see all of the people of Pompeii running. Some had already passed out from lack of oxygen and were laying in the streets. Dogs laid dead next to them, forever faithful. Nico tried to run, but could only ever get so far before passing out himself. He wasn't ever sure if he really died or not. After the blackness left his vision the scene would play again. He had to get to water. Now.

Percy was sitting on the dock again, looking up at the stars. He could see so many from here. Thinking about space gave him a sort of reverse claustrophobia; it was strange to think that there was just so much... space. He closed his eyes and laid down. Nico had been gone nearly three months now. If he were alive, then he obviously didn't care about Percy, and if he was dead then he wasn't coming back. Should Percy just move on? How long should he wait? He sighed. He hated when things got complicated.

"Percy, are you okay?"

Speaking of complications, here came Cameron. They had started talking again, but Percy maintained his distance. The blonde was dangerous to his fragile relationship.

"No. I'm so not okay."

Cameron sat next to him and Percy opened his eyes. He could feel the other man's body heat in contrast to the cool breeze coming off of the lake.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Cameron offered.

"Nope. Nothing you don't already know."

Blue eyes looked Percy over. It killed him to see Percy hurting like this. Maybe he should just tell him that Nico wasn't coming back. He was the only one who knew. That would lead to a lot of questions, though. The son of Hades was a hard one to get rid of, but he had finally had success. Brian had failed him. Garrett had failed him. Even the baby hydra hadn't so much as scratched Nico. Finally he had taken things into his own hands, and success had been sweet. It hadn't been easy to learn how to get rid of the child of Death, but he knew a guy who knew a guy who could put living mortals into the pre-afterlife. Pompeii had been someone else's idea. Cameron was just going to stick him in a factory somewhere with a bunch of killed workers, but as soon as someone mentioned Pompeii he knew that was the one. Nico would know exactly how he had felt that day, only he would feel it over and over forever. It was better than death.

"Summer's ending."

Percy's voice brought Cameron back to the present.

"Yeah. Campers will be heading home soon. What are you going to do with a little down time?"

"There will be enough staying that I think I'll stay busy. It's for the best, really. I guess I don't have to worry about making time for Nico anymore."

Percy's upset was palpable. Cameron almost didn't know how to handle such strong emotions from the man, especially knowing that he was partly responsible. Tentatively he reached over and put his hand on the other man's. Percy didn't acknowledge it, but Cameron felt his mood change. Percy was still laying on the dock, staring at the stars. Something came over Cameron as he looked at the young man and he suddenly found himself bending down and kissing Percy.

"Don't..." Percy said quietly, but those green eyes were fixed on Cameron's mouth. Cameron played it cool and sat back up, giving Percy some space. "You're so warm." Percy said, touching his lips, "That feels so weird."

"Does it feel bad?" Cameron asked, really hoping that he wouldn't mess this moment up.

Percy was quiet for a moment before saying, "No."

"Does it feel good?"

"...I don't know..."

Cameron leaned down again, and when the other warrior didn't move away he kissed him again. His heart immediately beat faster. He was kissing Percy Jackson! He nearly fainted when Percy at last began kissing back. He was scared, Cameron could tell. He put his fingers in the dark hair and Percy seemed to calm a little, but his body still trembled slightly. Cameron's tongue licked at Percy's lips, but the other man refused him entry. That was ok, Cameron could wait. He desperately didn't want to, but his head was already swimming from these vanilla kisses. Percy finally broke it to breathe. He looked like he had just broken his mother's vase; he knew he was in trouble, but was trying to come up with an explanation anyway. Cameron ran a finger down the side of his face and Percy closed his eyes, laying his head back on the dock.

"I'm a terrible person." Percy lamented. He had liked that way too much. Nico hadn't ever even crossed his mind. It hadn't felt like cheating. What did that mean?

"No you're not, Percy. It's fine."

"You don't know." he sat up and pouted.

"Fine, so I don't. I just don't like to see you upset."

"Well, the love of my life is missing and I'm not sure if he's been eaten by a Hydra, or hit by a car, or just... doesn't want to come back. I mean, he hates this place, he hates you, he hates being a demigod and all that comes with it." Percy's breathing started to thin out and he gasped, "I think the only things he likes are bashing brains in and having sex with me."

Cameron stayed quiet, letting Percy vent. Truthfully things were a lot more heavy than he would have preferred at the moment, but Percy needed him, so he let it happen. Percy was breaking. It was the perfect time to wiggle himself into the boy's heart. He couldn't be too forward, though. He didn't want to scare Percy away. Patience, he told his pants, patience. He put his hands on either side of the other man's face and turned him to look at Cameron. Green eyes flitted to the other man's lips and Cameron gave him what that look had said he wanted. Percy instantly kissed back and Cameron wasted no time in swiping his tongue across the other man's lips again. This time Percy complied.

Percy hadn't meant to, but the warmth of Cameron's mouth, his tongue, his hands, had caused him to moan. That fired Cameron up and his hands started roaming. Percy didn't know what else to do, so he grabbed onto Cameron and held on. He was stuck between feeling that this was wrong and thinking 'Fuck it, just this once.' Then he felt Cameron's hand on his crotch and it was all too much. He pushed Cameron away and quickly stood up.

"I need to go to bed. Alone." he said firmly, looking at Cameron. He felt the sudden need to wash his sins away and hope that in the morning everything would be okay. Luckily Cameron let him leave without a word. 


	6. Cutting Ties

The next morning Percy was furiously digging. He stomped on the shovel and scooped up the dirt, flinging it over his shoulder. The smell was adding to his guilt. Nico always had a lightly traceable scent of dirt to him. Percy hadn't slept all night after what had happened. When he did manage to doze off between his waves of guilt he had nightmares about Nico coming back as it was happening.

Suddenly water started to pour into the hole he had been digging for another camp sign. He looked up and realized that it was raining. He watched the water swirl into the dirt and as he did a thought occured to him. Like a child, he crouched down and shoved both hands into the mud and concentrated hard on his (ex?)boyfriend. Percy found that he had a difficult time remembering what his lover looked like. Why? He'd been gone 3 months, sure, but how could he forget? Still, he concentrated. He felt nothing, saw nothing. He sighed and stood up. The rain was coming down harder now. No point in continuing to dig if it was just getting flooded. He took the shovel back to the shed and rinsed his hands in the water pouring down from the edge of the roof before retreating back to his cabin.

Cameron was laying on his bed, listening to the rain. He felt that it was very poetic for his mood at the moment. Percy probably hated him now. It had been worth it, though. Percy had kissed him back! Even if it was just that one time, Cameron had gotten to hold him. He was so happy he wasn't sure what to do, but then he'd get sad again thinking of what Percy was going through.

"I'm a terrible person." he had said.

No no, Percy was a wonderful person. Cameron had always wondered why he had settled on the son of Hades as a lover. He deserved someone so much better.

Cameron was pulled from his bed and he was slammed against the wall. He felt cold wet hands on his throat and when he focused black eyes were looking at him with pure hatred. Nico was covered in mud and ash and the rain had soaked him.

"Did you tell him?!" Nico was shouting at him, slamming the blonde's head against the wall.

"What?"

The hands around Cameron's throat squeezed tighter, "Did you tell him it was you?"

"Of course not."

"What is your problem? What did I do to you?"

Cameron rolled his eyes and then pushed Nico with all of his strength. Nico hadn't expected it and fell back.

"I'm not the only one keeping secrets from Percy." Cameron said before lunging at the other man.

"Percy, sir, something weird is happening." A young camper was pulling at his shirt, trying to drag him outside. This wasn't the first time this scenario had occured. Usually it was an older kid putting candy up his nose or something, so Percy wasn't rushing very much.

"Come on! The mud monster is going to eat him!" the camper said, now pulling on his arm. That caught Percy's attention and he ran the rest of the way out of the cabin. He followed the gathering crowd to where he had been digging earlier. It was still raining and the entire area had turned to mud. He worked through the crowd until he got to the front. Percy felt his heart drop into his stomach and then leap back up when he saw Nico and Cameron fighting. They were both covered in mud, but Nico also appeared to have black ashes all over him. When the two sensed Percy's presence they turned, pausing the fight. Nico threw something at Percy, shouting at him to keep it safe. Percy picked it up out of the mud. It was a large glass marble of some kind. When he looked up again he saw Cameron withdrawing his blade from Nico's torso. When had they brought out weapons?

Nico spit out the blood leaking into his mouth from his punctured lung and pulled out his Stygian blade. He knew Cameron was better with swords than he was, so he would just have to be faster, more clever. He blocked a move and made to kick Cameron's leg, but he slipped in the mud and nearly took another stab in the gut. He was already light-headed from bleeding and lack of oxygen. This wasn't going to turn out well.

"Aren't you going to tell him?" Cameron asked, swiping his sword at the other man's face.

Nico answered with a swipe of his blade, managing to cut Cameron's arm. His blade wasn't big enough to get to any ligaments, but it had at least drawn a lot of blood and distracted Cameron long enough for Nico to succeed in his next attempt to trip him up. Cameron fell face first into the mud and Nico took the opportunity to sit on his back. He wasn't a dirty player, so he didn't stab him. He did attempt to rid Cameron of his sword, but Cameron was faster. He bucked Nico off and then twisted around, catching Nico on his shoulder.

Percy watched in horror. He knew he should stop this fight, but it was as though he was cemented in place. He had a terrible feeling that this fight would end in either one or two fatalities and he just wished he could close his eyes and not know about it.

"Tell him."

Percy looked up. Nico had Cameron on his knees facing the crowd with one hand full of Cameron's hair and the other held his blade at Cameron's throat. When Cameron swallowed the blade cut into his skin. The blonde mumbled something at Percy, but the warrior couldn't understand it. Nico moved the blade just barely away from Cameron's throat and he repeated it.

"I tried to get rid of Nico."

A hush fell over the crowd of campers watching and Percy's brain came to a halt.

"I sent Brian and Garrett for him. I sicked the hydra after him. I poisoned his fruit..." Cameron paused and Percy thought he must be finished until he spoke again, "I tried to make him stop loving you. Fucked with his mind every time he closed his eyes. I sent him away. How the fuck did you get back?" he asked, leaving Percy's horrified stare to look at Nico.

"He loves me." Nico said simply, kicking at the mud, "Anything else?"

Cameron smirked, but Nico didn't see it, "You want to know why?" he asked Percy.

"Yes." Percy said quietly, not entirely certain of his answer.

"Because Nico doesn't deserve you. All he is is lies and darkness. It's not just that, it's not right. You two just don't go together!" he started shouting frantically, "I needed to make things right."

Percy hadn't realized that he was crying until he spoke, "*You* are lies and darkness. Nico has never lied to me!" at least, at that moment he couldn't think of a time his lover had lied to him.

Cameron smirked again and looked up at Nico. Nico had no idea as to what the blonde was referring to, but he was on edge for what the warrior would say. Suddenly his feet were moved from under him with Cameron's body and he found himself dodging the sword he knew he should have thrown out of the other man's reach. As they fought Cameron continued to rant, "You always take things away from me!"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Nico said, finally dislodging Cameron's sword and kicking it deep into the mud beneath their feet. He grabbed Cameron's arm and spun him into his smaller body, placing the blade at his neck again, "Percy knows everything."

"Nope." Cameron said with a strange resolution. He found Percy again in the crowd and locked gazes, "You weren't really his first guy." after a dramatic pause Cameron continued hysterically, "He killed Bobby and took him away from me. I don't want that to happen to you, Percy. I don't want you to die because of him." he jerked his arm and once again turned on Nico, who fell backward into the mud. Cameron's hands were around his throat, "Which is why you need to die. You won't kill anyone else after I kill you. I don't need a sword to do it." He was about to laugh when Nico's blade slid across his throat. Blood splashed onto the small warrior beneath him and the light left Cameron's eyes before his body fell into the mud. The crowd watched in morbid shock and fascination as red mixed in with the muddy water flowing across the ground.

All eyes then turned on Nico as lay there in horror. He pushed Cameron's body off of himself and stood up, dropping his blade as if it had burned him. He wiped his hands on his shirt, but the blood wouldn't come off. As everyone stared the blood turned black and seemed to spread up Nico's arms like soot. Nico started madly wiping his hands, making terrible freaked out noises. Carefully Percy approached him, refusing to look at the dead body of Cameron, which was now laying face up and throat open. Nico looked up at him, "I'm sorry Percy." he whispered, "Come with me and I'll explain everything."

"Is it true?" Percy blurted out.

Nico looked at the crowd that was starting to come closer. All eyes were blaming him. "Percy, come with me, please!" he said desperately, looking like a caged animal searching for an exit.

"Is what he said true?" Percy shouted. He couldn't control his emotions right now and didn't care if people stared.

"Yes. Kind of. Shit, just come with me and I'll explain!" Nico held out his hand.

"N-No. I don't think I can do that." Percy said in a hurt and defeated tone.

Nico let his hand drop and looked at the crowd again. They had stopped long enough to hear what he had to say, but the weapons in their hands told him that now was the time to leave. He looked at Percy one last time, "Regardless, I love you." he said before darting past the crowd and into the shadow of a tree.

"Percy-" Annabeth started, touching the warrior's shoulder. He yanked it away.

"Just shut up right now!" he then got quiet, "Someone move Cameron's body while I contact his family." he then walked away with everyone at camp staring after him.

A few days later Percy was staring out of his window, watching students leave camp now that summer was over. As the main guy around camp, he knew he should have been outside bidding them farewell, but he just couldn't do it. Some parents had gotten their children early after the incident. So many questions that he didn't have the answer to. He was also tired of people telling him that it wasn't his fault. They all blamed Nico, regardless of the fact that Cameron had turned out to be psychotic on a number of levels. Regardless... that word brought back the memory of Nico's last words to him. "Regardless, I love you." Percy sighed and looked away from the window. He hated all of these feelings.

Percy had hated to contact Cameron's family, but it turned out that they were strangely calm about it. Percy was somewhat relieved to not have to deal with their emotions, but it also made him incredibly sad. Perhaps that was why Cameron was the way he was. He'd never learned to deal with his feelings in a normal way. Percy still couldn't believe it all. How could so much have happened to Nico and he hadn't known? He should have realized. Then again, Nico had never said anything. He never said anything until it was too late, Percy thought. Their relationship was so flawed. He began to wonder where Nico was; what he was thinking, what he was doing. Strangely Cameron's last words weren't bothering him as much as he thought they should have. Maybe he wasn't surprised. Nico hadn't been very shy for a virgin. Maybe he didn't believe it. Nico had said, "Kind of." That meant there was more to the story. He sighed again and got up to lay down. He had enough people watching for the day.

As Percy made his way down the hall he felt strange. His head felt light; perhaps he had stood up too quickly. He blinked his eyes as they became blurred. As he blinked he noticed shapes that weren't in his cabin. Yellow flowers and a person. Two people. His body ached as he fought them off in his mind. Percy's stomach felt nauseous and his head ached as though it had been hit. He felt a blade slice his forearms open as he used them to cover his face. As he lost blood and consciousness he fell and the two blurred bodies increased their fervor, opening his stomach and finally his throat felt warm as one made his final blow, then everything went quiet and dark.

Percy woke up in his hallway, which was now dark from the absence of the sun. His stomach still turned but his head had cleared. As he caught his breath he felt Nico's name on the tip of his tongue. He knew that everything he had seen had been real. He had to find Nico now. He quickly found himself in the stables, getting BlackJack ready for a ride. Yellow flowers. He knew where they were.

Morning frost still covered the ground where Nico's body lay. Dark eyes, aphotic with death, stared up at nothing and his body bent stiffly in a horrible death pose. Blood splatter marred the mossy decaying walls and congealed on the yellow petals of Nico's precious sunflowers. Percy choked on the dense copper scent in the air as his body convulsed in a disbelieving gasp.

He knelt down next to Nico's body and smoothed the hair from his forehead. His skin was cold, but then it always had been. Percy tried to put Nico's arms down, but the joints were stiff and he was afraid he would break them. He wished he could remember what all of those crime dramas on TV had told him about determining time of death. He needed to know how close he was to saving Nico, not that he had known that he needed to. In his shocked state Percy continued to try and make the corpse of his lover look more rested. He straightened his clothing and retied one of his shoes. He took his jacket off to give Nico a pillow. He carefully cleaned the dried blood off of that pale, pale skin, his stomach turning when it revealed huge bruises and gashes. He desperately wished for the body to go slack. The way Nico's back twisted looked unnatural, and Percy wondered when it had been broken. With that thought a gasping sob cut through the dead silence of the abandoned building.

"Nico..." Percy said in a shaking voice as he smoothed the dark curls from his lover's forehead again, "I should have come with you. I'm sorry I left you alone." He pulled the cold, stiff body closer and started to rock with it, "Oh Nico. I can't handle this! I wasn't ready!" As he rocked with the body it slowly began to go slack, as if the motion were working the stiffness out. When Percy felt it he stopped and laid Nico down, finally closing those dead eyes and folding his arms. He picked a clean sunflower from the corner and placed it under one of Nico's cold cold hands. Nico looked a bit like Snow White just then, with his pale skin and black hair. Percy sat for a moment, staring and whispering incoherent things. Then he began to wonder what to do with the body. He didn't want to be the one to tell Hades. Surely he already knew?

Arachnae, he suddenly remembered. He got up and slowly backed out of the room before darting down to room XIII. He felt sick again when he saw the floor covered in gold dust. Whoever had killed Nico had planned it out. He quickly ran back to Nico, half afraid that the body had disappeared. He choked on his breath when he saw Hades standing there. His dark eyes were difficult to read, and the similarity to Nico's stare made chills run down Percy's spine. He looked up at the warrior standing in the doorway.

"Percy. Come here."

Percy obeyed, nervously biting his lip, not sure of what to say.

Hades knelt down and smoothed Nico's hair from his face again before motioning for Percy to kneel as well.

"Did he give you anything and tell you to keep it safe?" Hades asked, studying the condition of Nico's body with a strange cold calculation.

"Yeah. How'd you know?" Percy asked, feeling the marble in his pocket.

Hades gave him a look, "Really Percy?"

Percy swallowed his retort and pulled out the marble. Hades took it and studied it for a moment before giving it back.

"Put it in his mouth." he commanded.

"What?" a startled Percy asked.

"Put the bloody marble in his mouth, boy."

The younger man did as he was told, feeling as if he were desecrating something sacred.

"Make sure it goes down his throat." Hades said, motioning for Percy to use his fingers to shove the marble further. Percy's stomach turned as he obeyed, really hoping that Hades would tell him why.

"Your fingers are too short. You will have to blow it down."

"You can't be serious. What are we doing?"

"Just obey me, Percy. Put your hand on his throat wound before you do it; I'm not sure of how deep it is."

Hades was at least patient enough to give Percy a moment to prepare before performing the twisted form of CPR on Nico's dead body. Percy wasn't sure what to feel when he noticed that doing so didn't feel much different from kissing the boy when he was alive. He heard it more than anything when the marble started to travel down Nico's trachea, then he felt the resistance change as it moved down further.

"You can stop." Hades said after a moment and Percy didn't hesitate to obey. He was going to ask what the fuck was going on when Hades told him just to watch. Color slowly began to bleed across Nico's monochromatic form and his wounds began to heal. Percy's heart was pounding as he realized what was happening. Suddenly Nico coughed and blood splattered Percy's knees. Hades turned Nico's stiff body over as he continued vomiting up body fluids, primarily blood and stomach acid. It would have been disgusting if Percy hadn't been preoccupied with the fact that Nico was alive. When Nico was at last finished he collapsed, landing partially in the puddle he had created.

"Nicolas." Hades said. Nico opened his eyes. Still dark, but now shining with life.

"Braaaaainsss." Nico rasped and Percy was about to flip out when Hades chuckled. Most inappropriate thing to say ever at that moment.

"Good. He still has personality." Hades said, picking Nico up in his arms. Percy imagined Hades holding Nico as a baby as the small man sort of cuddled against Hades in half-sleep. He wondered if his own father had held him as a child. "Better get him cleaned up." Hades said, bringing him out of his thoughts.

"May I come?" Percy asked. He couldn't leave Nico again so soon.

"Very well." Hades said before touching Percy's shoulder and disappearing into shadow.

Percy carefully helped Nico clean up in the bathtub. His joints were still stiff and he couldn't move very well. He also kept falling asleep. No wonder. Coming back to life probably took a lot of energy. Percy couldn't tell what Nico was thinking. His eyes had a tripped out vacancy and Percy wondered if he would even remember anything. He laid awake all night while Nico slept. He watched, fascinated at how Nico never moved in his sleep. If the sheets weren't rising and falling with every breath Percy would assume the boy was dead again. Finally Nico blinked his eyes open and looked over at the young man in his desk chair. Without speaking, Nico held his hand out. Percy came forward and held it. Nico's eyes looked normal again as they darted across Percy's face. Neither were sure of what to say. "Hey, thanks for bringing me back to life." "Oh no problem." Nothing seemed appropriate. Percy took a chance and kissed Nico. When their lips parted Nico licked his and Percy's mind raced as he remembered that Nico didn't know he had kissed Cameron. Did he know now? Had he tasted it?

"We should go for a walk." Nico said in a weak whispering voice. His wounds had healed, but as he sat up he moved as if he were still hurting from them. Percy helped him out of bed and it was then that he noticed something. There were strange black marks on Nico's skin where his wounds had healed. Percy was going to ask about them, but then he decided against it for the moment. Sensing Percy's stare, Nico put on a red zip-up hoodie before heading out of his room, Percy following behind. He watched Nico's robes as the shadowy hem glided across the stone floor.

They walked in silence. Percy sensed a distance from Nico. It didn't feel like the boy was angry or anything, but it still bothered Percy. They walked for what seemed like miles until Nico stopped at a shoreline. He stepped into the water and Percy panicked; you just couldn't trust Underworld waters. Nico turned and smiled at Percy's face.

"Relax, Percy. This is just an underground spring." he pointed upward where a tiny hole was letting light and drips of water in. He unzipped the hoodie and threw it to the stony shore. Percy tentatively stepped into the water. The water was the perfect temperature. Nico was sprinkling water on his arm with his hand, "Check me out; I have tattoos now."

"Yeah, I was going to ask about those."

"Nemesis marked me for what happened. Now I won't ever be able to pretend that I didn't kill her son, and everyone will know. I bet my dad had a right fit about it."

"Actually, that was probably a compromise between the two. She is all about just desserts and stuff."

Nico turned to Percy, "Two of her other sons KILLED me, and I still got branded? What kind of just desserts are those?"

Percy blushed. He said stupid things sometimes.

"I'll never get the blackness off." Nico said to himself, trying to rub the smokey black "tattoos" from his skin anyway.

"Nico come here." Percy said, sitting on the shore. Nico came over and sat next to him, not too close, though. "What was it like to die?" Percy asked quietly. Sure, he had felt it, but it had to be different to actually die, right?

Nico shrugged, "For me it was just like sleeping."

"You didn't like, see the light or anything?"

"Nope. My soul didn't go anywhere. You had it in your pocket."

Percy wiped his hand, feeling strange at having handled someone's soul so flippantly.

"So you knew what was going to happen?"

Nico nodded, "Sooner or later it was going to happen. After Cameron poisoned me I came up with a plan. My dad taught me how to cheat death, but it can only happen once. You just have to find a safe place to keep your soul. Can't keep it there for very long. They do have an expiration date."

"Weird. That's also kind of gross."

"I could have put it into the form of green gelatin. Would that have been better?"

Percy blushed, feeling dumb, "No."

"So you do know I can't ever go back to your camp, right?"

"It looked like Cameron made you do it, though."

"Do you really think that matters? Everyone thinks I'm just a jealous lover."

Percy stayed quiet. As he did he felt words scratching at the inside of his lips. Now was the time to talk about everything.

"Was it true, what he said?"

Nico looked away, "I already told you it kind of was."

"Well tell me what 'kind of' means."

"No. You won't like me anymore."

"You do realize that I had to blow a marble down your dead throat, right?"

Nico laughed nervously, "Yeah, I guess that's true. Fuck, how do I explain this?" he played with a string on his jacket and Percy laid his hand on the other man's to calm him. Nico sighed, "Did you ever meet that Bobby kid from the Ares cabin at camp Half-Blood?"

Percy shrugged, "I don't really remember him."

"Well I do. He was maybe kind of my first boyfriend I guess? I was like 14 or 15, so it doesn't really count as anything. Anyway, we used to hang out and had gotten to experimenting with each other before that gorgon ate him."

"How far did you go?" Percy asked. Strangely, he didn't feel angry about it.

"Umm... downstairs outdoorsies? No no, I think I remember holding his uh... yeah once, but I got freaked out."

"So weren't you sad when he got- uh, when he left?"

Nico looked up at Percy, "Of course I was. I just didn't say anything. It-it was my fault."

"How was it your fault he got eaten?"

Nico looked down at his bare feet, "We had a fight that day. Some other guy had written him a love note and I got jealous, but he said I couldn't be jealous because nobody knew we were even messing around. I told him that nobody could know, and he got all upset and ran away and got himself eaten that same night."

Percy stared for a moment before speaking, "How did I not know any of this? Why didn't you talk to me about it?"

"I wasn't about to tell someone that I was fooling around with another guy. I was totally freaked out about everything."

"... I would have understood."

Nico grabbed Percy's hand and kissed it, "Percy, I didn't want you to know I had blood on my hands. I didn't want you to know I was dirty."

"Fine. It just frustrates me so much that you don't tell me anything. I mean, you fucking died because you never told me what Cameron was doing. Do you even realize how much that hurts?" Percy couldn't stop the parade of words from coming out of his mouth.

"I'm sorry okay! I just didn't want you worrying about me, and I didn't want to take your friend away."

"I'm always worrying because I never know what's going on. Whenever you disappear I never know how long you'll be gone. This last time I thought you were already dead, and do you know what happened?" Shit, he hadn't wanted to tell Nico this way.

Nico sensed something, "What happened?" his heart ached as he already guessed.

"Fuck. I kissed Cameron. Well, at first he kissed me and I didn't like it, but then he kept doing it and he was so warm and inviting and I suddenly couldn't stop and it just... I don't know, it was weird because I wanted to push him away and keep waiting for you, but at the same time I wanted him to keep going so that I could know what it felt like to be with someone who would be around the next day." By the end Percy was pretty much yelling at the smaller man.

Nico just stared and blinked his wide eyes a few times until a sigh betrayed him. Tears fell from the dark eyes and he looked away, looking more shocked and hurt than anything. He took a few moments to compose himself before he spoke, "You had every right, Percy." he said, and Percy somehow felt cut deeper than anything else Nico could have said, "I've been a terrible boyfriend."

"It's not all your fault." Percy said softly, "I mean, Cameron had you trapped."

"I"m still away from you more than I should be." Nico picked up a rock and squeezed it before slamming it back down on the beach, "Fuck!" he said, rubbing his chest.

Now Percy started to cry. It was as if he could literally see Nico's heart breaking. "Nico, I-"

"We should have done this so long ago." Nico sobbed.

Percy's heart dropped, "Done what? What are you talking about?" he asked, already knowing.

"We can't do this anymore, Percy. We've started hurting each other, and that's not right."

Percy sniffled, "But I love you."

"I love you too, but sometimes that's not enough."

"Who says?"

"Percy." Nico said sternly.

"Whatever."

They sat in silence for a moment, then Percy got up and headed to the water. He needed his comfort. He more or less dove in once he got in deep enough. He stayed underneath the cool water as long as he could. He liked the silence. It helped him think. Had he just been dumped, or was it a mutual thing? Much as he hated it, he couldn't bring himself to fight it. Deep down he really did understand why this needed to happen. When he rose to the surface he found two black eyes staring at him from just above the water. Nico moved his head up more to breathe, but otherwise stayed silent. Suddenly Percy needed his other comfort, just this one last time. He swam forward and kissed Nico. Nico looked nervous when their lips parted, but then he leaned forward and kissed Percy back. Percy held Nico's body up as they kissed, making sure Nico wouldn't fall into the water. When their lips parted Percy continued to kiss down Nico's jaw and further. His heart dropped when he realized this was the last time he would hear that perfect noise that Nico made when Percy kissed that spot on his neck. He hated to, but he had to let Nico go for a moment while they removed their clothing. He let his clothes sink in the water; he could find them later. What were they doing? He didn't care.

Nico wrapped his legs around Percy's waist and his arms around the other man's neck before kissing him. They shared in a few deep, desperate kisses before Percy reached down and positioned himself. He watched Nico's face as he slid inside. Oh fuck, that face that he'd never see again. Nico's nails dug into his shoulders and he knew he would even miss that. Nico buried his face in Percy's neck for a moment before Percy laid him down. Nico hadn't even noticed that they were near the shore again until he was laying in an inch of water, looking up at Percy nervously.

"Just trust me." Percy said before starting to move. Nico's head dipped backward and he held onto Percy's shoulders tightly to keep his head above the water. The older warrior shrugged and whispered, "It's okay, Nico. I won't let you drown."

Nico looked at him and forced himself to relax. He trusted Percy. He felt his head hit wet sand, and that was all. He could feel the waves hitting his body, but not his face. He suddenly had doubts about his decision to end the relationship. Percy cared about him so much; how could he throw that away? No, he reminded himself. Love just wasn't enough. He pulled Percy down for a kiss and put all of his passion into it. When their lips parted Percy looked down at Nico knowingly. Nico shuddered at the way Percy seemed to be able to read his mind. Percy shifted his weight and both were reminded of what they were doing. Nico gasped at the friction and moved into a comfortable position. Percy kissed Nico sweetly and started a slow rhythm. He wanted this to last as long as possible. Nico's arms wrapped around him and goosebumps sprang up onto his skin. As he kissed the younger man he could feel Nico's breath on his ear, quietly gasping his name.

As the two became lost in each other's pleasure Percy used his power to manipulate the water surrounding them. He concentrated on making the water run across Nico's skin, ever so lightly. Nico whimpered and his legs closed tighter on Percy's hips as the extra stimulation washed over him. Percy had always wanted to try that. Nico gasped the taller warrior's name and Percy knew that he could easily take him over the edge if he wanted to. He slowed the water down and Nico groaned, sounding somewhat grateful between the frustration. Seemed that he wanted it to last as well.

"Nico." Percy said quietly and pet the smaller man's hair.

"Percy." Nico answered before kissing him slowly.

"I love you so much." Percy said in a heartbroken tone as he pushed in and out of the body beneath him.

"I love you too." Nico panted.

They moved together for what seemed like hours. Neither wanted to face the end, but oh they wanted to feel it. Nico pulled Percy's body close and kissed him as if he would never stop. Percy increased his speed and Nico's grip became tighter. The son of Poseidon lost control of the water surrounding them and Nico felt the water creep back up below him. The motion of the water added momentum to Percy's movements and Nico had to stop kissing the other man to gasp his pleasure, choking on the water splashing up. Percy panicked, but Nico told him to keep going. He watched Nico's face and wanted to keep making him feel that way as long as he could. All too soon he felt Nico's muscles contracting around him and he lost it as well, panting Nico's name.

Percy stared up at the dark cavern above him. No wonder Nico felt claustrophobic after a while. He looked over and saw that Nico had crawled up onto the sand to avoid the water. He laid on his side, watching Percy, then he laid on his back and Percy saw his body shaking.

"Oh Percy, I think I'm dying again."

Percy quickly got up and went over to Nico. He looked just fine, but he was rubbing at his chest.

"You're not dying, Nico. I feel the same way too." Percy said and laid next to his ex-lover. They both stared up at the cavern until their emotions were back under control.

"So what exactly happened?" he asked.

"Hmm?" Nico looked at him, half asleep already.

"I still don't understand why Cameron wanted to kill you."

Nico's eyes blinked with a new alertness, "Cameron may have been the child of Nemesis, but he was human; his judgement was flawed. He let his emotions decide what was fair. He knew about Bobby somehow, and because he liked you, he latched onto the information and got it into his head that I was a liar."

"You're not a liar. You just withhold information completely."

Nico gave Percy a hurt look, but didn't say anything to the contrary. He knew it was true.

"So what did regardless mean?" Percy asked, saving Nico from his berating thoughts.

"Huh?"

"Before you left. You said, 'Regardless, I love you.'"

"I meant it a couple of ways. Regardless of the fact that you wouldn't come with me, I still love you. Regardless of the way I sometimes act and the things I say, I love you. Regardless of the fact that we're not together anymore, I love you." Nico's breath hitched, but he didn't cry.

This time Percy was quiet for a moment. He simply grabbed Nico's hand and held it. Nico squeezed it and then let go, standing up and fetching his clothes. "I felt you die." Percy suddenly said.

Nico fastened his robes and looked at Percy, "I'm sorry. You- You won't feel me anymore."

"What? For real?"

"Yeah."

"Well I guess it's for the best." The son of Poseidon said sadly.

"Yeah..."

"What's your problem?" Percy asked, looking up at Nico as he zipped up his red hoodie. He didn't like the distance he was getting from the boy.

"I'm just tired," he held his hand to Percy, who took it and stood up, "I'm just tired."

"You said that."

"Oh."

Percy gave Nico a sad look, "Come on, I'll take you back." He put his arm around the younger man, who suddenly seemed barely able to stay awake. They walked back to Nico's room and Percy laid the smaller man down on his bed, "Will you be safe here now?" He asked.

Nico gave him a strange look until he realized Percy was talking about the various venegful dead running around, "I'll be fine. Now stop being so damn sweet to me." Nico half-joked.

"Never..." Percy stood awkwardly, not ready to go and have everything be final. What if he never got to see Nico again?

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm going to sleep. Just remember, Percy. Regardless."

Percy just laughed a sad laugh and watched Nico fall asleep. He felt empty now, even with Nico so close. There was a strange void that he could feel now. A cold chill settled into the room and Percy got the strange feeling that he was no longer wanted there. The thing was, he didn't know how to get out. He looked at Nico again, who was sleeping deeply on top of his comforter. He couldn't wake the guy up and be all "Hey, I know we just broke up and all that, but can I get a ride home?" and he couldn't just sit and wait like a creeper. His stomach felt sick with dread when he realized that he would have to ask Hades for a way home.

Woo. This chapter is actually way longer than this, but I'm splitting it up into two. I debated about killing Cameron off, as I'm not usually a violent person, but I felt that it would be more appropriate than just a catfight over Percy's affection. The next chapter will be something of a fast forward, and then I think this will be done. Sad day, I know. Anyway, I appreciate you all and thanks for the reviews!


	7. Living Dead

A few years later Percy watched as a wrecking crew took down the Nike cabin. They had already crushed half of the cabins, and each time Percy's heart broke. He had tried so hard to make it work, but some families had sued and then someone from the Apollo cabin had drowned in the lake in an unfortunate accident. Nobody even wanted to come anymore. Percy lost a lot of money with multiple lawsuits from angry parents and finally had to close the camp. He felt like such a failure. He had just wanted to make a new camp for kids to come to and he had failed miserably. He sighed and walked into the forest. The Hades cabin was still intact. He wasn't going to tell the wrecking crew about it. He needed something to remind him that it had actually happened. Percy stared into the forest. Where could he go now? What could he do? His mother had of course offered to take him in until he got on his feet, but he just didn't feel right about it. He sighed. He'd have to, at least for a while.

"Come on, bro. It'll be fun." Grover poked at Percy with one hand and took a bite from the red plastic cup with his other hand.

"I don't have the money." Percy grumbled from the kitchen table he was currently sitting at.

"That's why you go with me. I have the hook-up."

Percy looked at his friend. Grover was looking at him eagerly. While the last thing Percy wanted to do was go on an expensive trip while he tried to find a job, he knew that Grover was trying his hardest to make him feel better. He had enough saved up to not feel like a total freeloader, and maybe a break from normal life was just what he needed.

"Ok."

"What?"

"Okay, I'll go with you."

Grover threw his cup and did a happy dance, his hooves clacking on the kitchen floor, "Yes! You will not regret this! I promise."

Percy stood up and walked over to the fridge, "So uh, where are we going?"

"We're going on a Euro-trip, baby!"

The orange juice container slipped from Percy's hand and the sticky juice spilled all over the kitchen floor. He might not have enough saved after all.

.

"I hate Europe." Percy pouted, "Do all the streets smell like pee?"

Grover laughed, "Centuries of drunk people roaming the streets. Of course they smell like urine."

"...Ew."

"I'm kidding, Perce. Lighten up."

Percy took a deep breath. He knew Grover just wanted to help him feel better, but so far things just weren't as fun as he was hoping. Partially because they were now in Italy and every time he saw a sign that said, "Vietato fumare." he imagined it being said in Nico's voice. He hadn't seen the guy in 5 years, but he still wondered and worried about him. It was a habit he had just never been able to break.

Percy had two other boyfriend types after Nico. The first one had been a terrible decision on his part. It was a young lawyer he had been working with while being sued. Percy had known not to mix business with pleasure, but Daniel had just been so nice to him and all those late nights... it just happened. Then when they lost the case Percy never heard from him again. The other man he had dated was a dreamer named Ethan. He was good at making Percy forget all about real life. A little too good at it, unfortunately. One day Percy woke up in a pile of bills and unread newspapers with no idea how much time had passed.

"You know what we should have?" Grover cut into Percy's thoughts.

"Hmm?"

"We need to go have some bomb, legit Italian cuisine!"

"It's morning, Grover."

"Italians eat breakfast, too. C'mon." Grover hooked Percy around the neck and continued walking down the street.

After breakfast, the two amused themselves by going to some touristy spots. It took up most of their day, and by evening they were starving again. They picked a cute little quiet bistro that was busy enough to be trusted but empty enough not to feel claustrophobic. As the two were fighting over who got the last breadstick something caught Percy's eye. He dropped the breadstick and was too distracted to notice Grover eating it and the basket it came in.

"Grover... look!" he pointed across the street and Grover followed his gaze over to a skinny man in a peacoat.

"Is that...?"

"It's gotta be."

"Are you gonna talk to him?"

"I have to."

Percy started walking toward the pale man when another man walked up behind and embraced him. Percy stopped and watched as the smaller one giggled and then they walked around the corner. Percy retreated back to the table, where Grover was giving him a look.

"He was busy." Percy said lamely.

"Yeah, busy getting some."

Percy gave Grover a look, "Really?"

Grover swallowed whatever it was he had been eating, "Sorry. Just calling it like I see it."

"Did you see where he went?"

"Kind of. Why? Are we going to stalk him?"

"No. I just want to try and run into him again."

"Right."

.

The next day was spent popping in and out of shops around the bistro. Percy looked up into windows, hoping to catch a glimpse of him again.

"You know, I didn't take you here so that we could try to find your ex-boyfriend. We're supposed to be forgetting all of the drama, remember?" Grover said, rubbing his sore hooves, which had been jammed in his sneakers for hours.

"I know. I just have to make sure he's okay."

"You saw him. He looked just fine."

"Yeah, but still."

They rounded a corner and Percy collided with someone going the other way.

"Oh sorry, I-" he looked up and saw that it was the taller man from last night. The man was giving him a strange look. Percy took the chance and blurted out, "Nico?"

The man took a cigarette out of his jacket and lit it. He took a drag and then pointed down the street, saying something in Italian that Percy assumed meant, "Over there."

Percy nodded his thanks and he and Grover continued walking down the street. The man stayed on the corner, finishing his smoke and watching them. His eyes had a curious knowing about them that creeped Percy out just a bit. His feelings changed to nervousness when he found himself standing outside of a jewelry store.

"Is that him?" Grover asked. They could see a lithe figure standing at a counter through the window, but the lettering was blocking his face. Percy took a deep breath. Was he really going to do this? Yes. He pushed open the door and was greeted with the bustle of people and soft old school music like Nico used to sing to him. He made a nervous circle while the younger man spoke with a customer. There were only maybe three other people in the small store, so Percy could hear what he was saying, though it was in Italian so he didn't understand. A young man approached him and asked what Percy assumed was if he needed any help. Percy just gave an awkward smile and shook his head. The young man smiled back and said something with the word "American" in it before leaving Percy alone. Percy looked at the counter again to find Nico staring at him. As soon as he was caught the younger man looked away and reached down to rearrange the rings in the display box below him. Percy walked forward, not knowing what he was going to say.

"I thought that was you, seaweed brain."

Percy felt the floor move underneath him when he heard the lightest little accent in Nico's speech. Nico snickered and looked up, "I forget you tend to have a delayed reaction sometimes."

The young man who had offered help said something to Nico in a low tone and Nico gave a small nod. The young man looked Percy up and down before tending to a customer who had walked in.

"Antonio, my assistant. He's protective like a puppy. I don't think he's actually capable of inflicting harm on anyone, but he sure likes to bare his teeth." Nico continued. Finally Percy found his voice.

"You cut your hair." Ok, not the most intelligent thing to say to someone he hasn't seen in 5 years, but at least he had said something. That statement was true enough; Nico's hair was quite short, with just a bit of length in the front. It showed off his long, pale neck. Er, not that Percy was looking.

"Yeah. This is my... grown up look I suppose. I've kept it short for about 3 years now." Nico walked out from behind the counter, but he still gripped it behind him for support. Somehow Percy felt relieved that Nico was just as nervous as he felt.

"So what have you been doing?" Percy asked.

Nico gave him a shy smile, "Actually, I can't chat too long. You see, Mrs. Costa over there probably needs something to match her dress tonight, and as one of our best customers, it's best to start kissing her ass as quickly as possible."

"But... I wanna talk to you." Percy pouted, knowing how pathetic he sounded, but not caring.

Nico turned and wrote something on a pad of paper Percy hadn't noticed. He turned back and handed Percy a piece of paper, "After six." he then moved past Percy and greeted Mrs. Costa.

"You are pathetic, man." Grover said as they left the store.

"Why?"

"You are so not over him."

"Never said I was."

"I just assumed that 5 years and 2 boyfriends later you might have forgotten about him a little."

"Never."

"Well you at least could have played it cool around him. 'But I wanna talk to you'" Grover mocked.

"Shuttup. Did you see him in that red dress shirt? Did you hear his fucking accent? How could I not fall over myself?"

Grover just rolled his eyes, "Pathetic. Just... sad."

Percy stopped walking when he noticed something, "Hey, where did you get that bag?"

"I saw something for my girl when we were in the shop. That Antonio is a true salesman, I tell ya."

"You're so whipped."

"Yeah, but at least I'm actually dating the person I'm whipped over."

"Shuttup."

.

Six fifteen found Percy standing outside the jewelry store. He had followed the direction to the address on the paper, only to end up back here. Grover had stayed behind at the hotel to rest, and Percy felt very stupid standing alone in front of the dark store. His eyes caught a light being turned on above his head and he realized that someone lived above it. He circled the building until he found another door and rang the little buzzer near the doorframe. His nerves rushed as he waited for someone to answer, increasing as he heard someone coming down steps. They crashed inside of him as he found himself looking into dark eyes.

"Oh yeah, I forgot you were coming. Come in." Nico said, stepping out of the way to allow Percy inside.

"Hey." Percy said, choosing to ignore the fact that Nico had taken off his tie and the red shirt he was wearing was now open at the collar, revealing more pale skin.

Nico nodded a greeting and tried to motion for Percy to go up the stairs, but the poor boy was so distracted that Nico assumed him to be thick and led him up after locking the door. He opened the door at the top of the stairs and this time Percy was smart enough to step inside first. He was greeted with a simple studio layout, with the kitchen to his left and the living room/bedroom/study to his right.

"Sweet riesling?" Nico asked, gesturing to a bottle on the counter standing next to an empty glass. He laughed when Percy made an unsure face, "It tastes kind of like applejuice for grown-ups."

"I guess I could try it." Percy answered. He wasn't much of a drinker, especially wine. He metabolized too quickly to get drunk, and the taste wasn't worth it. He watched Nico pour it with a grace he had forgotten about, and long elegant fingers wrapped around the stem to give it to the taller man. He took a sip while watching Percy do the same, smiling when the other man grimaced.

"Good, huh?"

"I'm just not really into wine. Why do you drink it if you can't get drunk?"

Nico shrugged, "Some of my customers give me wine when their girlfriends agree to marry them or the like. I can't let it go to waste."

"Can't you just give it away?"

"I'm not a re-gifter, Percy."

"Okay, nerd."

Nico quickly finished off the rest of his glass and Percy politely set his back down on the counter. Nico motioned for him to follow as he was led to the couch. They sat down and Percy looked around the studio apartment. It definitely had Nico written all over it, but a more mature, refined Nico. The decor was dark, but expensive looking. Percy looked at Nico's feet. Instead of the cute little sneakers with skulls on them he was wearing leather lace-ups. He looked at Nico's pretty little artistic hands. He still wore the skull ring as well as one with a garnet stone. His gaze went back to Nico's, which seemed to be studying him.

"You look the same, just maybe tired." Nico said quietly.

"Yeah, I've had some tough times." Percy said, continuing to look around. Something about Nico's stare made him nervous. It always did.

"Oh? Do tell." Nico said, removing his shoes and socks to sit cross-legged on the black couch.

Percy laughed, "You're probably the only guy on the planet who doesn't know, but I basically got sued so hard my children will be paying my lawyers."

"Why? What happened?" Nico asked, his previously calm demeanor changing to one of concern.

Percy told him the story. The smaller man listened with an increasingly sad expression.

"I'm so sorry, Percy. It's all my fault."

"Don't you ever think that!" Percy said louder than he had meant. He continued in a softer tone, "Cameron was a sick bastard, plus let's face it; it was silly of me to try and run a camp all by myself."

"I guess. I just still feel bad about the whole situation."

"Don't. You're fine, Nico."

"But you aren't."

"I will be. Trust me."

Nico just made a disbelieving face and stood up. Percy stood as well and was drawn to the fireplace, where pictures rested on the mantle. There was one of himself and Grover that he didn't remember being taken, much less by Nico. There was a picture of Nico and the blonde daughter of Aphrodite at college graduation. Finally there was a photo of Nico which looked like a modeling shot; he was draped across a plush chair with his white shirt unbuttoned and a cigarette in his hand. Percy almost laughed, but the sex in Nico's face kept him from it.

"What's this one?"

Nico squinted at the photo before cursing and taking a pair of glasses from his pocket, "Oh, Beriet took a bunch of pictures of me for her photography portfolio. I liked that one, so I kept it."

"You smoke?"

"I had a phase."

"Hmm... weird."

"Yeah. In college I went through an artistic phase in which I pretty much smoked and threw paint on a canvas and told people that's what my feelings inside looked like." He took the glasses off and looked up at Percy, "But I generally try not to tell people about it, so feel special or something."

"Since when did you need glasses?" Percy asked, his ADHD already changing the subject for them.

"Oh, uh since I came back to life. Apparently some of the syptoms that come with over 70 years of life decided to manifest after I came back."

"Well you still look good. What else is different?"

"I pee a lot and take a lot of naps. Luckily my penis still functions as a normal young man's should, so I try not to complain when my joints scream at me to stay in bed."

"Have you, um... with anyone else?" Percy asked sheepishly.

Nico gave Percy a dark stare, "That's my business."

"Sorry. I guess it doesn't matter."

"I understand why you're asking, Percy, but I honestly don't think it's an appropriate conversation for us to have." Nico said, moving from the fireplace and going back into the kitchen where he poured some more wine. Percy followed and watched him.

"So who was that guy I saw you with last night?" Percy asked.

Nico set the wine bottle down harder than he had intended to, "Were you spying on me or something?"

"No! I was just eating and saw you across the street." Percy said, not sure why he had started blushing. Maybe because he felt like he had been caught doing something wrong.

"Hmm..." Nico took a sip of wine, "Well, if you must know, he's a friend of my father's. He helps me run the shop."

"Why did he hug you like that?"

Nico's mouth curled in a smirk, "Why? You jealous?"

"No!" Percy blushed again.

"He's just become like a second father to me. He knows all about everything that's happened."

"That must be why he looked at me funny when I ran into him today. It was like he knew me."

Nico laughed, "Yeah I talked a lot of shit about you for a while." he finished his glass, "Drove him nuts."

"Why were you talking shit?" Percy asked, mildly hurt.

"I had to get over you somehow, and I wasn't going to do it by telling him all the good things about you."

"What did you say to him? Does he think I'm a jerk?"

"He knows you're a good guy, Percy. Don't worry."

"So what did you say to him?"

Nico grabbed both glasses and took them to the sink, "It doesn't matter, Perce." he said as he washed them by hand. Percy waited until he was finished to continue.

"But I wanna know."

"No!" Nico said, then calmed himself, "Just no. I'm just... I'm over all of that."

"Fine." Percy sighed, knowing when to quit, even though he really didn't want to.

"Anyway, I'm getting tired. I trust you have a place to stay?"

Percy really wanted to lie so that he could spend more time with Nico, but he knew the guy would know he was lying, "Yeah. Grover and I have a room we're sharing."

"Well, the shop is closed on weekends. I could show you around tomorrow if you'd like."

"I'd like that."

"Cool." Nico moved to the door and opened it. Percy said his goodbyes and was about to leave when Nico stopped him, "Percy?"

"Yeah?"

"To answer your question..." he looked down at the ground and then back at Percy, "All I ever wanted was you."

Percy let his heart react to the statement before pushing it aside, "Wait, what question?"

"Goodnight." Nico gently pushed him out of the door and shut it.

Percy stared at the door for a moment before sighing. Same old cryptic Nico. He wasn't sure which question Nico had answered, but he liked the answer. He just wished he knew what it meant.

.

Percy awoke tired the next day. Every time he tried to imagine Nico last night, his mind would change it. When he tried to imagine Nico sprawled naked on his big bed, his brain would change it to how cute Nico looked sleeping in it. When he tried to imagine Nico bent over the couch, his brain changed it to Nico looking at him with concern as he told his story. It was as if his mind were incapable of thinking about Nico sexually. It frustrated Percy. He didn't want to be reminded of his deeper feelings for the man. He just wanted the satisfaction that came with his pretty looks.

"Wow, you look really tired." Nico said as soon as he let Percy in the door.

"Thanks. You look really nice, too." Percy said dryly.

Nico blushed and Percy's heart fluttered, "I haven't done my hair yet."

"Dork. You know you look amazing"

Nico blushed harder, but played it cool, "So, I just need to do that and then put my shoes on, then we can go, yeah?"

"Yeah."

The younger man sat on the arm of the couch while he tied his shoes and Percy looked him over. He was in a jeans and a black t-shirt with white sleeves, which was more typical for Nico attire in Percy's mind, but even this outfit made Nico look like a grown-up. His shoes were black sneakers, but expensive ones for sure.

"You look fancier than me." Percy pouted.

Nico finished tying his shoe and looked Percy over, "Not even. Why do you say that?"

"Because all of your stuff looks brand-new, and I've had these clothes for years."

"They only look new because I generally don't wear them. The only thing that looks worn on you is your shoes, and that's not a bad thing. It makes you look like you travel a lot or something."

Percy's mouth jerked in a laughing smile. Nico was terrible at giving compliments sometimes. He decided to let it slide and just told him thank you.

Nico looked in his wallet and then looked up into his hairline in thought, "You know... If you're nice to me I might buy you something."

"I don't need your charity."

"Good, because I'm not giving it. I just like to buy people nice things sometimes."

Percy couldn't help it, "Who else do you buy nice things for?"

Nico's face flushed again, "Nobody, but I like to think that I like to do so."

"Aww, you're so sweet." Percy said, somewhat disappointed that he hadn't been able to fish any information out of the younger man. It really wasn't any of his business who Nico had hung around with post-breakup, but Percy really wanted to know. He wanted to know if anyone had hurt the small man, and if so, he wanted their address and weaknesses so that he could maim them. He assumed that Nico had to have been hurt, because he didn't see the guy tolerating any mistreatment, and as far as he could tell Nico didn't have a significant other.

"Anyway, shall we go?" Nico left the apartment and Percy followed. The younger man pulled out a keychain with lots of keys on it and locked his door. "Most of these are to the goods in my shop." Nico said, noticing Percy's look.

"Cool."

They ended up spending the day going into random shops. Nico would gush about this old bookstore and that antique place. In the antique shops he liked to point out things he had brand new back in the day. Percy liked it. He liked watching how excited Nico would get when he was telling Percy about something. He was just so happy, and that made Percy glad because he couldn't remember seeing Nico so content with life. They were walking across a coblestone area with a fountain when Nico suddenly stopped Percy from walking further.

"Do you see that?" he whispered, close to Percy's face.

Percy had been preoccupied with checking if Nico still smelled like a cemetery, "What?"

"Over there, do you see them?"

Percy followed Nico's gaze to the corner of a building. Several Eidolones stared back, hiding behind the edge of the building. He took his trusty pen from his pocket, but Nico stopped him, "Sorry, Percy, but I have to do this." Percy didn't even have time to ask what it was Nico was talking about. Suddenly he was waking up, laying on the ground near the fountain. He sat up and looked around. Small piles of ash scattered here and there, slowly blowing away in the wind. His eyes found Nico hastily washing his hands in the fountain. His sleeves were pushed up far enough that Percy could see the smokey markings Nemesis had put on the younger man. He had forgotten about those.

"Nice ink." he said, making Nico stop and look at him.

Nico quickly pulled his sleeves down, "Yeah, I don't like showing them off."

"Yeah... So what'd I miss? Why didn't you let me help you?"

"Eidolones like to possess people, but they can't do any harm if the person is kept asleep."

"You should have let me help you. What if one possessed you?"

Nico gave Percy a small side smile, "I'm the Ghost King."

"Hmph."

"Are we pouting now?"

"Maybe."

Nico nudged Percy, "Come on. I have to change now. I think I singed my clothes a bit using my fire." he led the other man to a shadowy corner and they stepped out into Nico's apartment. Percy was amused when Nico took his clothes to the bathroom to change. Nico being shy around him just seemed silly. When Nico came out of the bathroom Percy nearly fell off of the couch. He had on a black fitted dress shirt that lengthened his torso and showed off his toned shape. Perhaps it had been a good idea for Nico to hide his naked skin if he looked that good with clothes on.

"Now you look even more fancy."

"I haven't any other casual clothes at the moment. Come on, I'll buy you something nice."

"I- uh- okay." Percy's brain was still gobsmacked at Nico's attractiveness. He barely even noticed shadow traveling back into the city. He didn't wonder why Nico was being nice to him; he always had been and the breakup wasn't bad. What he did wonder was how Nico could be so casual about everything. Did he really no longer have feelings for Percy? He still hadn't figured out the whole, 'All I ever wanted was you.' thing. He could imagine what Nico had meant, but he wasn't sure. Soon enough he found himself in a store that made him uncomfortable.

"Ah, Nicolas." A woman behind the counter said right before giving Percy a critical once-over. Nico said something to her and her look instantly changed as she took Percy over to the shirts and started picking out some greens and blues. Percy wasn't sure of what to do, so he just smiled and nodded while Nico watched him with an amused expression on his face. Soon he was being shoved into a changing room with a pile of shirts. Percy looked at himself in the mirror. Why had nobody told him that his hair was all messed up? He started to put a shirt on. Even he could tell that the fabric was an expensive quality. What was he going to do with a fancy shirt? The only time he got dressed up was for funerals and lawyer meetings. Still, if it gave him a reason to stay with Nico just a little bit longer, he was willing to do so. He was still totally in love with the guy. He had no doubts or denials about that as soon as he had laid eyes on him again. He could tell that Nico was over him, though, and that made Percy somewhat sad. He pushed those thoughts away as he buttoned the first shirt. Nico was his friend again, and he would not mess it up.

When he came out the woman babbled in approving Italian, but Nico wrinkled his nose and said something to her that Percy knew was not approving. The woman shoved him back into the changing room before he had even said a word. A similar scene played out for most of the shirts until he had put on a dark seafoam color. He saw the look of wanting pass through Nico's eyes before he could hide it and knew this was the one. Nico turned up his nose again and said something to the woman, who then pushed Percy back into the changing room again. Fine, Nico wanted to play that game? Percy put on another shirt in a similar color and stepped out. Nico pursed his lips together and shook his head. The woman seemed to ask him why not and he appeared to have given a vague answer. She took the rest of the similar colored ones out of the changing room before Percy stepped back in. He sighed and put on a pretty cornflower blue shirt. He still looked nice, but more in a kind of, "I'm on my way to church" way. He stepped out, already knowing that Nico was going to pick that one. Sure enough, a few minutes later Percy was watching the younger man dole out cash for the shirt, as well as some shoes. The warrior changed before they left the shop with his old clothes in the bag.

"Now I need to show you off. Do you like coffee?" Nico asked, strolling down the street. Percy made a face and the younger man laughed. "Surely you like soda, then?"

"Duh."

"Okay good, I know where to take you." he grabbed the other man's hand and led him across the street. Percy chose not to comment on Nico's old habit of holding his hand to take him places. He didn't want the other man to let go. He was led into a sketchy alleyway and then into a half empty bar. The floor was black and white tile that led to a stage to the far right of the place, where a man was tuning his guitar and checking the mic.

"Nico man! Long time, no see!"

Both men looked over to the corner, where a group of guys and dolls were clustered around a table.

"Hey everyone, this is my friend Percy." Nico said, pushing Percy in front of him, "Percy, these are the people I hang out with."

"Yeah, when you're not busy being a grownup, which is like, never anymore." a blonde girl Percy vaguely recognized said.

"Ah, so this is the guy you've been stuck-" a skinny man with sandy hair half hidden in a fedora started to say before a darker man elbowed him. There was a momentary awkward silence before Nico pulled up two chairs and sat in one of them. Percy sat in the other and suddenly found the blonde young woman leaning in closely.

"So did he show you any of the pictures I took?"

"Er... I saw one of them. It was really cool."

The woman beamed, "Wasn't it? Of course it helps having a highly attractive person in front of the camera as well as behind it..."

They continued talking through the night. It took a while for Percy to feel comfortable, but he did enjoy himself. It turned out that the bar was demigod owned and that all the patrons were demigods and mythical creatures. He got to hear some dirt on Nico, too. Apparently he hadn't had a boyfriend since he and Percy broke up. Nico said that it was because he was so busy with work and finishing school, but Percy could tell that wasn't the whole truth. The blonde girl was indeed the daughter of Aphrodite who had bothered Nico since he started college. Neither of them seemed sure about how they had managed to become friends. The other people around the table were also college friends, but Percy could tell that Nico wasn't really close with them. He seemed a little stand-offish and at one point had left the table. The blonde girl told Percy that he does that a lot in crowds, but the warrior went after him anyway. He found Nico just outside the door, leaning against the wall with his eyes closed.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Nico said, keeping his eyes closed, but tilting his head toward Percy, "I'm just tired."

"You can take me back to the hotel if you want to get some rest."

Nico opened his eyes, "You sure?"

Percy nodded, "Yeah. I'll even pay for a cab if you're too tired to shadow travel."

Nico gave a tired smile. He knew Percy had no money, but he also knew that Percy had a lot of pride, and he really was too tired for shadows, so he formed a compromise in his head, "I'll walk you back. It's not very far." he pushed away from the wall with a groan.

"You sure you're not too tired?" Percy asked, though secretly he was glad to have Nico for a long walk on their last night together.

"Yeah. Let's tell the others, first."

They made their way back inside the now crowded club and gestured more than spoke to Nico's friends because the music was so loud. Percy swore he saw Nico blush when the blonde girl winked at him, but it was hard to tell in the dim lighting of the club. As they left, Percy noticed Nico leaning an awful lot on against the buildings as they walked.

"You look like you're drunk or something." He said as Nico ran out of wall and stumbled on his feet.

"No no, my back's just going all stiff again. I'll be fine."

Percy stopped Nico from walking further, "You're such a bad liar, Nico. Come on." he pulled Nico close to him and the younger man tentatively reached out and put a hand on Percy's shoulder, using him for support now that he had run out of wall.

"Don't get old." Nico said as they continued their walk, "Or rather, don't get trapped in time, then die and come back to life, and fuck up your soul's idea of how old you are."

"I'm sorry, Nico." Percy said quietly, suddenly feeling some blame. Maybe he should have just let Nico stay dead.

"It's not your fault. It's not my dad's, either, but he has lightened up on me a lot since then. He helped me get the shop started. Of course, he hired Antonio and Antonio's father to keep an eye on me when he can't. I don't mind it; they know when to stay out of my business."

"Antonio's a cute kid, not gonna lie." Percy said. He meant it, but he was still trying to figure out Nico's romantic past since they split. If he had slept with anyone, Antonio made the most sense.

"Yeah. He has a new girlfriend every week, though." Nico said in such a tone that let Percy know he knew the warrior was fishing.

"Oh." was all Percy said in answer.

"We're here." Nico suddenly said. Percy rearranged his thoughts and was suddenly sad that they had gotten to the hotel so soon, "Shall I walk you to the door like a good chaperone?"

"Yes please."

They entered the hotel and went up the elevator in silence, the same way they walked to the door of Percy and Grover's hotel room.

"Um, thanks for the new clothes I guess."

Nico nodded, "Yeah. It was fun, but I kind of like it when you're more Percy-fied."

"Yeah..."

Another awkward silence.

"So you should visit me sometimes." Nico said, leaning against the wall.

"Likewise... you know, when I get my own place."

"Yeah, it's nice to not have to deal with other people sometimes."

"Yeah..."

Another silence.

"Fuck, I don't want to leave. I kind of like this place. It's not just because my life is shit at home, either."

Nico moved from the wall to look at Percy, "Look, I know it's shitty, but I also know you'll get through it. You have so many supportive friends, Percy. Don't take that for granted."

"I don't. Some days are just harder than others."

"Trust me, I know."

"That reminds me. We've been hanging out all day, and met your friends and everything, but I still don't really know what you've been doing since uh... since five years ago." Percy said, not wanting to use the break-up term.

Nico leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes as if thinking, "Nothing really exciting. I missed some school, so I took a summer trimester. Then some more school, then I graduated, then my dad helped me open a shop. I've only had it for a few months, but we've been really busy. That's because I know where to get the really sparkly shit in an ethical and generally non-invasive manner. It may seem kind of boring compared to the adventures you have, Perce, but it's what I like. I love making people happy doing what I do. Don't get me wrong, I still have to bash monsters here and there, but for the most part I get to just be... me. Sometimes it's a little bit lonely, but I have my friends I see every so often and Antonio and his dad make me dinner from time to time, so that's neat." When Nico was finished, Percy was quiet. He opened his eyes to check if the warrior was still there/awake and found Percy staring at him, "What?" he asked nervously.

"That's the most I've ever heard you say at one time I think. That's the most you've ever told me since the picnic at the hospital."

Nico blushed, "Well, you asked."

"No no, I liked it. I just wish you were this way all the time."

"Well, I don't think you need to know everything about me."

"That's the problem, Nico. Yes I do!" he got closer to the other man, who looked ready to dart away at any moment, "I need to know everything because I'm your friend. I understand keeping some secrets, but most stuff I need to know. I need to know your favorite things to eat, and what kind of stuff you're into, and what your favorite color is so that I know what color gift bag to buy on your damn birthday. Shit, I don't even know when your birthday is, Nico. I've known you so long, yet you always surprise me because I don't know a damn thing about you!"

Nico watched Percy control his breathing again after having blown up at his friend. He chewed his lip for a moment, "My birthday is in January."

"See?! See what you did there! Half truth! You'll give me the month, but not the day."

"January twenty-eight. I don't remember what year, though." Nico said, feeling stupid and ashamed.

"There, was that so damn hard?"

"Yes." It was true. Telling people things about himself made Nico feel vulnerable.

"Well it shouldn't be. Tell me another truth. A whole truth." Percy challenged. He could tell that Nico was uncomfortable, but he just had to do this.

"All I ever wanted was you." Nico said, looking at Percy, who was giving him an expectant look, "That's why I haven't had another boyfriend. I don't want anyone else. The thought of being with anybody but you just doesn't feel right. I'd rather be alone the rest of my life than try to find a replacement, because that's all they would be."

Percy just stood there, processing the information. He had to admit that he had maybe guessed at Nico's feelings, but not to the extent he had just professed. He had asked for truth, but now he wasn't sure what to do with it. "Nico..." he started.

"Look, I'm tired. I don't expect anything from you just because I told you what I did. Just... know that you always have a friend over here." Nico said, looking everywhere but at Percy. He started to leave but Percy grabbed his hand, "No, Percy." he said as he was pinned against the wall by the warrior.

"Chill. I just want to look at you for a second." Percy said, studying Nico's face.

"Why?" Nico asked, shrinking against the ground.

"I don't know." Percy admitted, letting go of Nico's hand. They stayed staring at each other that way; Nico leaning against the wall and Percy standing close. Percy's neck gave a nervous spasm and moved his face closer to Nico's. Nico didn't move, but his eyes moved to the other man's lips just long enough for Percy to notice. He started to move closer when Nico stopped him.

"No. I'm not doing this again." he said, starting to move away from the wall.

"What?"

He stopped, "I'm all or nothing, Percy, and the problem is that we still would have the same problems. I'm not going to pretend like I'm magically going to start telling you everything, and that I won't be busy with my stuff while you're busy with yours. I can't go back to visiting once a month to fuck and calling that a relationship. I just... can't." He started to walk away again and Percy let him. Just before Nico got on the elevator, Percy ran down the hallway.

"Regardless, Nico!" he shouted just as the doors closed. He stayed there a moment, hearing doors opening to tell him to shut up. Once they all closed Percy made his way back to the hotel room, where he found Grover talking to his girlfriend via Iris-message. Upon seeing Percy's distraught state, he hastily finished the call and then turned to his friend.

"Nice duds." he said.

"Thanks." Percy said, flopping onto the bed designated as his.

"So uh... how'd it go?"

Percy scrubbed his hands over his face, "I'm so fucked."

"Really? Because you don't smell like you got any." Grover joked as he sat on the bed to look at his friend.

"I'm still totally butt-crazy in love with Nico."

"Well duh. Anyone on the street could tell you that, and I bet you 500 dollars that Nico's still in love with you, right?"

"Apparently."

"Well, what are you going to do about that?"

Percy turned onto his side, away from Grover, "Nothing. He's not into it."

"So you're just going to pout for the rest of your life and make us all miserable, too?"

"Yup."

"Great." Grover said, leaving the bed. He knew his friend was just being stubborn, so he was just going to leave it for now. They had a long flight in the morning.

.

Percy was laying in bed, staring up at the dark ceiling. He felt like he had so many interviews, and no luck on a job yet. He was staying in the basement of Annabeth and her boyfriend's home, had absolutely no money, and couldn't find a job. He just didn't know what to do at this point. He heard the hangers in his nearly empty closet clang together and sat up, gripping his pen, "Who's there?" He watched as a dark form came forth from the dark abyss that was his doorless closet. The moon coming in from the one tiny window reflected off of the form's pale skin. As Percy's eyes focused he made out a face.

"Boo." Nico said as he approached the bed.

Percy laughed and relaxed, "You're so creepy, dude."

Nico sat on the edge of the bed, "Duh. I'm the Ghost King, remember? Creepy is kind of my thing."

"What are you doing here? You're not gonna go all incubus on me or something, right?"

Nico smirked, "You say that as if you wouldn't like it. Anyway, I had some time before work, so I came to see you."

It took Percy a moment to remember that there was a time difference, "You came to see me in my underpants. At least let me put some clothes on."

"Yes. Put something on and then come with me. Do you have to work in the morning?"

Percy looked away, "I- I don't work at all."

"Oh..."

He got up as Percy dressed, picking up the few things Percy had in his room.

"What's this?"

"My alarm clock."

"What's this?"

"My sneaker."

"Ooh, what's this?"

"Nico, you know that's Riptide."

"How about this?"

"That would be my ass."

Nico laughed and removed his hands. Percy quickly put a shirt on. He wasn't sure what Nico was up to, but he was curious enough to go with it. As soon as his shoes were tied Nico grabbed his hand and led him into the closet. They came out into the corner that was Nico's room, "Oh shit, I forgot. Close your eyes." Nico said. Percy did as instructed and was led through, "Okay, we're good now."

"Why can't I see?" Percy asked as they crossed to the kitchen.

"Because I'm secretive. Aren't you the one who told me that last time we talked?"

"Hmm..." Percy answered, having grabbed a pastry from Nico's counter. It tasted even better than it looked.

"I'm glad you like those. Mrs. Costa sent them to me, but I don't eat stuff like that, especially not twelve of them. Ladies are always sending me food and telling me I need to get married so my woman can fatten me up."

"That's sweet of them" Percy said before starting on his second pastry.

"You're going to get sick."

Percy shrugged, "It tastes good coming in, it'll taste good coming out."

"You're disgusting." Nico wrinkled his nose.

"You love it."

"Yeah, about that."

Percy stopped mid bite and put the pastry down. Something in Nico's voice told him things were about to get serious, "Hmm?"

Nico sat down at the kitchen table. Nico was biting his lip and moving his fingers in a nervous way, "I brought you here to tell you something that I've been thinking about."

"Yeah?"

"Well, I kind of maybe might have sorta been thinking about that maybe we should date again."

Percy swallowed, "What now?"

"I understand if you don't want to, but after seeing you after so long and knowing that everything I felt was real and true, I think it would be foolish to deny myself happiness if there's a chance to have it."

Percy took another bite of pastry to buy some time to think. He wanted to grab Nico and twirl him around screaming, "Yes let's do it!" but he had to think realistically. Did Nico want a relationship now that it was convenient for him? Then, he had admitted to Percy that he still had feelings for him and would be happy if Percy felt the same. Could they even have a relationship?

"Like I said, I understand if you're not into it. We still have our flaws. I think, though, that if we really tried we could make it work." Nico continued.

"Can I have some water?" Percy asked, buying more time. He honestly wasn't sure what to say.

"Yeah." Nico went to the cupboard and brought out a glass before filling it with water. He set it on the counter in front of Percy, "I'm not saying that if we get back together that everything will be better, but I can take care of you when you need it, and uh, and you can take care of me."

This time Percy stayed quiet just to hear what else Nico would admit. He was awfully open when he was filling awkward silence. Sure enough, he continued.

"I have weekends off and some time before and after work. We could hang out then. Even when you get a job, we'll make time to be together. I know it's harder for you to travel, so I'll just shadow over and we can like go to the movies and stuff. I'm saying we're not instantly going to be boyfriends again. We need to start slow and see if things will work out. I just really want you back in my life and I can't have you just as a friend. Like I said, all or nothing. I really hope it's not nothing, though." He leaned against the counter to look right at Percy.

Percy set the glass down. He had no idea what he was going to say, but he was going to try, "I've had boyfriends since." Gah! Why had he said that?!

Nico looked down, "Were they good guys?" Percy gave the other man the abridged version of his two relationships and watched Nico's nostrils flare, "Do I need to go make them burst into flame?"

"No, though that would be neat to watch. They were both bad decisions I made myself."

"Still."

"Anyway, I don't really know what to say, Nico. I mean, of course I would love to hang out with you again, but like you said we're still flawed, and I don't know if I should be dealing with that on top of everything else."

"That's okay. I understand." Nico said, wiping his hands on his pants in a nervous gesture, "Anyway, I need to get to work soon. I'll take you home when you're finished with that." he nodded toward the third pastry Percy had started eating. He was a nervous eater, what could he say? He watched the younger man washing his hands.

"Do you have OCD or something?" Percy asked as Nico dried his hands and examined them.

"No. It's part of Nemesis' curse." Nico said, continuing to look at his hands, "Sometimes they still look black, or covered in blood. No matter what I do, I can't wash the guilt off."

Percy got up and held each of Nico's hands in his, "They look pretty normal to me."

"I know they do. I know the blackness isn't really there, but sometimes I can just see it. Usually when I'm not mentally strong."

"You have such pretty hands." Percy said, his mind wandering as usual. He could feel the coolness radiating off of Nico's hands. How had he forgotten about that?

"So I've heard." Nico answered. He could feel the heat from Percy's hands holding his, and it was more than just body heat. His whole body was warm with a blush he hoped Percy wouldn't notice, but knew he would. They both stood there, looking at their hands. Neither wanted to take it further, but neither wanted to stop, either. Percy moved his thumbs over the cool backs of Nico's hands and heard the other man take a controlled breath. He looked up and saw that Nico was blushing. It was light, but on Nico's pale skin it showed pretty obviously. Nico felt the stare and moved his gaze from their hands to the sea green of Percy's eyes. He looked so nervous. Finally Percy had to break the spell.

"Pretty sure you're supposed to be working right now." he said. Nico blinked as though he had been thinking of other things and had just realized Percy was speaking.

"Yeah... I'll take you home real quick I guess." he withdrew his hands from the warmth of Percy's and nearly shivered.

"Come on. My closet's the darkest place in this studio apartment." He led Percy back to the curtain hiding his bed, visibly forcing himself not to grab Percy's hand.

"Do I get to see your room, then?"

"Not now that you reminded me about that. Close your eyes."

"Aww, do I have to?" Percy pouted.

"Fine. It's not that exciting. Just a mess." Nico rolled his eyes.

Percy looked around. The giant bed looked like the one he had frequently shared with the other man, but he figured it was new. The bay windows let a lot of light in, but Percy noted heavy curtains for when Nico wasn't in the mood for sunshine. What was Nico hiding? Percy peered into the corners. There was a cane with a badass skull thingy on the top in a corner near the bed. The dresser had all of his mythomagic figurines on top of it. Maybe that was what Nico was ashamed of.

"You act like I didn't know you were a nerd." Percy said, picking up one of the figurines.

Nico wanted to shout, "Don't touch that!" but didn't. "It just feels weird for you to see my room for some reason."

"Nerd. You do realize that you totally barged into mine, right?"

"Oh yeah. I did, huh?"

"Yup," Percy felt like messing with Nico, "What if I had been masturbating?"

"I was secretly hoping that you were." Nico said, dead serious.

Percy's retort caught in his throat and he coughed.

"Anyway, I really do need to go downstairs now." Nico started pushing Percy into the closet.

"Am I the only one who finds two gay guys walking into a closet funny?"

"No. Now get behind my shirts so I can close the door."

"Ok, Mr. Bossy."

Nico shut the door and knew he was in trouble. His back side was pressed right against Percy, who had started to giggle.

"Shuttup, I can't concentrate."

In answer, Percy wrapped his arms around Nico's body from behind, pulling him tightly against him. Somehow that relaxed Nico enough to concentrate on shadow traveling back to Percy's place. They stayed that way for a long time in Percy's closet. Percy loved the familiar feeling of Nico in his arms and Nico had missed feeling safe right where he was. He could feel Percy's breath ghosting on his neck and had to steady his own. Percy could feel Nico's heart beating against the arms across his chest. Involuntarily his grip tightened around the smaller man and Nico inhaled deeply before moving. Percy panicked, thinking that he was going to get shoved away. Instead he found himself staring down into Nico's hair as Nico's arms snaked around his waist. Again they stood holding each other, just being. Neither wanted to change it; make it more, make it less. Then a toilet flushed upstairs and ruined the moment. Nico gave his half smile and retreated from Percy, who felt more cold than he had holding the Ghost King.

"I better get to the shop. People need their sparkly things." He said, already blending in with the shadows in Percy's closet.

"Yeah..." Percy said, trying to get his thoughts together, "So I guess I'll see you when you come get me for our date?"

Despite himself, Nico broke into a smile, "Really?"

Inside Percy was fluttering from Nico's smile, "Yeah."

"Okay. Guess I'll come get you friday afternoon, yes?"

"Yes."

"Okay, Percy. See you friday." Nico said before disappearing into the shadows.

Percy fell backward onto his bed. He was really happy and really scared at the same time. He told himself that it was just a date, not a relationship. He wanted it to be. No, he didn't. Yes, he did. His mind went back and forth until he fell asleep on top of the bed.

.

Friday came faster than Percy could handle. He found himself obsessively combing his hair over and over as he waited for Nico to show up. Afternoon had been a little bit vague, so from noon on, Percy had been driving himself crazy in anticipation of the other man's arrival. He didn't know what to wear because he didn't know what they were doing. He found himself wishing that he hadn't had to sell the outfit Nico had gotten for him. He had some debts, though, so Nico would understand, right? He suddenly felt like a terrible person for having done so. As he fretted and messed with his hair again he heard the hangers clang together in his closet.

"Hola." Nico said, waving.

"I thought you were Italian." Percy said, leaning against the doorframe of the bathroom in an attempt to look more relaxed than he was.

Nico just laughed in response, "Are you ready to go?" he asked.

"Yup. Where we going?"

His question went unheeded as Nico's attention fixated on his hair. In one quick motion he tamed the cowlick that had been vexing Percy for nearly half the day.

"Sorry. It was distracting me." Nico said.

"It's fine. Soooo, where are we going?"

"Me no no." Nico said innocently, grabbing Percy's hand, "Let's go see." he dragged Percy out of his room and up the stairs, and then outside. Percy was curious as to what was going on, but knew enough not to ask. They started walking down the sidewalk and Nico was looking around, "Which way is your shopping centre?"

"Like a mall?"

"Si."

"I'm pretty sure it's that way."

"Cool." Nico said and started to pull Percy down the sidewalk.

"We're not walking there, are we?" Percy asked, noting how sweaty his hand was inside Nico's.

"Of course not." Nico said before they rounded the corner where a nice car, no a really nice car waited. Percy stared at it until Nico pushed him in the driver's side. Percy was momentarily confused until he noticed the steering wheel on the other side of the car.

"Are you going to drive on the right side of the road?"

"Of course I'll be driving on the correct side. This is America." Nico teased, purposely pulling out and driving on the left side of the street for a moment before moving back over.

"Spoiled much?" Percy asked, surveying the contents of the car.

Nico shook his head, "Nah. I'm borrowing it. I just wanted to watch you drool over it."

As they continued down the residential street Percy watched Nico. Even driving he was somehow elegant about it. As Nico was checking for cars before turning Percy had to laugh, "This is so fucking weird."

"Hmm?" Nico said, keeping his eyes on the road.

"Seeing you driving like a normal dude. Even though it's backwards, seeing you do something normal like driving is cracking me up. When did you even learn? Oh shit, do you even have a license?"

"Vroom vroom." Nico said as he waited at a red light, "Oh um, a friend from school taught me. Technically I don't have a license, but I don't have a current visa for this country, either, so let's not get hung up on the details."

Percy wasn't really nervous about all the illegal things going on in his presence. He trusted Nico not to get busted, and if he did, he was smart enough to know how to get out of it. He pointed Nico in the general direction he knew the mall to be in, and was impressed with the younger man's driving skills as they made their way over. It was also cute when Nico got mad at someone pulling out in front of him and he cursed in Italian. Percy didn't even care what they were doing on the date, as long as he got to be with Nico. They pulled into a spot and when they got out Percy noticed that the car had changed to something more inconspicuous. He looked at Nico, who just winked at him before grabbing his hand to lead him to the doors.

"Fags!" Someone shouted, and Nico cursed in Italian and gave a universal hand signal. Percy of course found it hilarious, but also warned Nico to check himself before he got them both shot or something.

"Sorry. I'm just on edge is all." Nico said.

"Why?"

"Because you make me nervous."

"Why?"

Nico's cheeks flushed, "Seriously?"

Percy's face also reddened, "Erm... shall we go in?" he gestured toward the door. They entered the mall and a blast of air conditioned breeze calmed their blushes. Nico again took the lead, and Percy was worried that he was going to try to buy stuff for him again, which made him uncomfortable. He was somewhat relieved when they got to the food court.

"So... what kind of music are you into?" Nico asked with a wink before shoving some salad in his mouth.

Percy smiled at Nico's attempt to make this a "normal" date, "Dork." he took another bite of his sub sandwich, "You could take us to Italy, and instead we're in a mall in the Eastern U.S."

"Is that a complaint?" Nico asked, ignoring Percy's full mouth.

"Not at all. I just think it's funny."

Nico sat back on his chair, "Well, I was thinking that I wanted to hang out more than impress you this time."

"I'm perfectly fine with that." Percy took a sip of his soda, "What are we doing after this?"

Nico shrugged, "Movie? Or is that too cliche?"

"I told you I'm fine with whatever. I just like to hang out with you."

Percy took some delight when Nico's cheeks blushed again, "Let's go see a movie. I've not been to a real theatre in ages."

"I love the way you talk," Percy laughed, "I never realized how much I missed it."

Nico bit his lip, which drove Percy even more crazy. He just wanted to pick the smaller man up, twirl him around, and never let him go. They finished their meals and then headed to the theater. They were a good 5 minutes early, and Percy was glad because the theater was empty. The armrest/drink holder was up, leaving nothing between them as they sat down. Nico was leaning in really closely as he told Percy a story about this creature who had gotten into his shop and broken half of the glass display cases before police were called. Percy was listening, he really was, but he was also watching Nico's perfect mouth as he formed the words, and the way his dark eyes were full of life as he related the part about making it seem like a break-in to the police. Finally he couldn't take it anymore and he put his hand up to the pale, cold cheek of his friend. Nico instantly quieted in preparation for that which he knew was going to happen next. Their lips met, their eyes closed, and for a moment the world was silent and bare, save for Percy and Nico. The younger man was the first to pull back, and he looked at Percy in the now dark theatre, then he just smiled and turned to the movie previews. Percy could accept that for now.

About halfway through the movie Percy noticed that Nico was leaning against him with a lot of weight. He nudged the man, who didn't move. Aww, Nico had fallen asleep. Thinking about the time difference, he guessed that it was about 2 in the morning in Italy. No wonder the guy had looked exhausted. Percy felt flutters in his stomach at the fact that Nico would sacrifice rest to be with him. He also got a little bit sad because he knew it would get old really quickly. They'd figure it out, though. He turned his attention back to the movie and as he did he felt someone staring at him.

No. No no no no no. Percy was more pissed off than anything. Couldn't he just have one nice date with Nico without some monster giving him shit? The sunglasses gave her away more than the staring. Even the most hardcore hipsters took their sunglasses off in the movie theater. Medusa had come back as a cute young girl in a polka-dotted dress with red cat-eye shaped shades. She was sitting in the far corner of the theater, staring the two boys down as if they had broken her heart. Percy nudged Nico, who started awake and immediately whirled his head around to look at the danger.

"Maybe if we leave right now she won't do anything. This place is too crowded to cause a scene." Nico whispered and promptly received a "shush" from one of the theater patrons.

Percy slowly got up and Nico did the same. The two backed out of the theater and then hastily left the mall.

"Do you see her?" Nico asked as he unlocked the car.

Percy looked around, "Nope, but that doesn't mean she won't show up."

They both got into the car and started driving away, looking all around them.

"I think I'll be more nervous if she doesn't do anything than if she does." Nico commented as they continued driving down the street.

"Umm..." Percy pointed behind him toward the rear window. Nico looked in the rearview mirror and saw Medusa right behind them in a flashy red convertible.

"Do you trust me?" Nico suddenly asked.

"Yes, Aladdin, I trust you."

Nico didn't understand the Aladdin reference, but disregarded it for the time being as he got onto the freeway.

"Hold on." he said as he glanced over to make sure Percy was buckled.

"Wh-" Percy found his head smashing into the seat as the car took off at a high speed. Luckily at this time of day the freeway was relatively empty, but Percy's heart raced faster whenever Nico had to pass a car. "Oh fuck. We're gonna get arrested. Oh fuck oh FUCK!"

"You said you trusted me." Nico said, not daring to take his eyes away from the road for a second.

"I do. I promise."

"Do you see her still?"

Percy looked back. Medusa was right behind them, "Yep. She looks pissed."

Nico bit his lip as he hit the gas harder. Percy's stomach dropped as he saw a sign indicating that the road curved soon. He found himself grabbing Nico's hand. If they were going to die, he at least wanted to die holding him. Nico's hand was incredibly steady as he took the curve at 160 mph. Percy looked backwards as the flashy red car lost control and smashed into the cement barrier. The momentum pushed the car forward further, dropping off of the hill to whatever was below.

"Now we're definitely going to jail." Percy said.

Nico just laughed and pulled Percy's hand over to kiss it, "Did you not notice that there were no other cars on the road?"

Percy thought back. After they had first gotten on the freeway, the cars had gradually thinned until there weren't any.

"What did you do?"

"I safely put them to sleep for a few minutes. They'll start coming up soon."

"What about the wreck? People will notice."

Nico looked over at Percy, "I took care of it. I promise."

Percy knew it was true. He knew everything would be okay, and it scared him just a little bit. He often forgot just how powerful Nico really was. It could be dangerous if things went badly. Speaking of danger, Percy now noticed that they were now going the speed limit of 65 mph. As the adrenaline calmed down in both of them, Percy noticed that the hand holding his was shaking.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Not really." Nico admitted, "I'm lost as fuck, too."

"Turn off at the next exit. I know a place we can go."

The younger man obeyed, and Percy directed him to an area with hiking trails near a river. They found a generally secluded place to park and Nico turned the car off before taking a deep breath.

"I bet teenagers come here to park." Nico said.

"Park?"

"You know... paaark." Nico said, undulating his body in a most sexual manner.

It took a moment for Percy's brain to stop thinking bad thoughts about the other man before he replied with a blush, "Well that's not why I took you here!"

Nico laughed, "You're so damn cute, Percy." he said, leaning the seat back and closing his eyes, "Man, I need a nap now."

"Aren't you worried Medusa will catch us?"

"Nope. I felt her go back from whence she came."

"Okay." Percy also put his seat back and looked over at Nico. The other man felt the stare and opened his eyes before turning his head to look at Percy. He gestured for the taller man to come closer and Percy obeyed, unbuckling and receiving a kiss as soon as he was close enough. After a few quick kisses Nico retreated and stared at the roof of the car.

"I'm... happy." Nico thought out loud.

"Me too."

Nico took Percy's hand in his again, "I just want to stay like this for a while." he said, sounding like he was falling asleep. That was fine with Percy. He wanted to stay like this forever; just with Nico. After a few minutes of silence something hit the car window, stirring Nico back to consciousness. Both men put their seats up and saw some kids on bikes riding away.

"That's it. Next time we're going to my place where nobody can bother us."

"At least it wasn't monsters." Percy offered.

"Yeah." Nico said, sounding far away. Percy didn't like when Nico got pensive like this. He got secretive.

"What's on your brain?"

"You." the smaller man said, surprising Percy, "Me. Us. Cliches like that."

"Like what?"

"I'm actually trying not to think too much about it. I don't want to complicate things if they don't need to be."

"But you still want to be my friend, right?" Percy hated sounding like that, but he needed to know.

"I want to be more than your friend, Percy."

"Good."

"Nerd."

They laughed and didn't discuss the subject any further. As Nico drove back to Percy's place the older man caught the younger one up on the latest about Grover, Annabeth, and other people he knew Nico really didn't care about, but he politely feigned interest in. Both purposely avoided discussing Percy's current situation, not wanting to ruin the night. There would be another moment to talk about that sort of thing.

.

"You are terrible at this game." Nico laughed as he watched Percy trying to mix up the ingredients for their dinner side dish.

"I never said I could cook." Percy pouted, smashing at the potato chunks with the mixer.

"I know. I just like the face you make when you're concentrating." He gave Percy a kiss on the cheek and went back to the stove.

Percy watched as Nico sauteed some onions. Nico wasn't the best cook, either, but he had a grace that covered it up until you noticed the burnt bits. Percy turned back to the potatoes and heard Nico curse before the spatula clattered on the floor. The other man was immediately by Nico's side to see what had happened. "Sorry, my hand just stopped working for a minute." Nico said, already rinsing the spatula in the sink. Percy gave him a confused look, so he explained, "My joints get stiff sometimes. You forget I'm an old man, Percy."

"You are not. Not really." Percy said and looked out the window, "Is it because it's rainy outside?" His grandmother had a similar problem.

Nico nodded, "Probably. Anyway, I think I've killed the onions." He said, going back over to the stove to turn the heat down.

"Poor onions." Percy said before going back to the potatoes. He could tell that Nico really didn't want to get into the whole age thing at the moment, so he let it go for now. Later, as they removed the dishes from the table, Nico started singing. Percy had forgotten that the younger man had his random moments of song. He did notice that the song wasn't in English, but it didn't sound like Italian, either.

"What song is that?" he asked, putting some dishes into the sink.

Nico continued singing and got closer to Percy, dancing against him as he put the other dishes into the sink. Suddenly Percy didn't care if he got an answer or not, so long as Nico kept moving like that. Nico, knowing this, stopped dancing and started to fill the sink with water, continuing his song and purposely ignoring Percy.

"No way you're going to get away with that." Percy said, standing right behind Nico and grabbing the smaller man's hips, pulling him backward. Nico dropped the dish soap he had been about to pour into the water and turned said water off, holding the faucet as if it were the only thing holding him up. The other man giggled and started walking forward, pressing Nico between the counter and his body. He felt a cold hand run up the side of his neck and the other one gripped his left hip. He put his own arms around Nico's torso, running across his chest and stomach. He felt Nico's heart beating beneath his fingers and the pace quickened when he began kissing Nico's neck. The hand on his neck ran up into his hair and tugged on it just a bit before Nico quickly spun around and captured Percy's lips with his. Percy pulled Nico up onto the counter and heard a splash. He had forgotten about the sink.

"Ut oh. Your pants are wet. Better take those off." he grinned.

Nico gave him a half annoyed, half turned on smile as he stood up and obeyed, removing the rest of his clothing as well. Percy made a noise at seeing Nico completely naked for the first time in years. The boy, no, man had grown up. His body was long and lean, and the shadowy marks Nemesis had left contrasted against his pale skin. A blush had spread across his shoulders and chest as Percy looked him up and down. He noticed the younger man looking at him expectantly.

"It's your turn, fish boy." he said, "Come and get me when you're done." Nico left the kitchen and Percy stripped down to just jeans, feeling somewhat nervous before seeking out his lover. He found him messing with his music in the corner of the living room and hugged him from behind, kissing at Nico's neck while he found the perfect song set.

"Just in case anyone is still downstairs." he explained before turning to the taller man and kissing him. Percy noticed that Nico was shaking as he held him.

"Are you cold?"

"No. It's just... I haven't done this since that last time with you and I'm just nervous."

Percy smiled. Vulnerable Nico was just too adorable sometimes, "Don't be. Riding a dick is just like riding a bike."

Nico laughed, "I've missed you, Percy. Seriously." he grabbed him and kissed him hard. "Come on. Let's go to bed." Nico said, nudging Percy to get out of the way. Percy momentarily panicked that the fun was over until he saw Nico raise a suggestive eyebrow as he sat back on the bed. Percy followed, crawling onto the bed and then on top of Nico, who had laid down and was now staring up at him.

"It's sweet that you're nervous." Percy said, cupping Nico's face and kissing him.

"You always make me nervous." Nico said as Percy ran a hand between his thighs, opening them and moving between the smaller man's knees.

"Why?"

"Because I love you."

Percy kissed Nico's forehead, "I love you too." he said and then kissed Nico several times on his face, then his lips, then his neck. Nico's skin broke out in goosebumps when Percy reached his neck, but they quickly faded as a blush warmed him back up. Percy sat up just to look at the man underneath him. Nico sat up and kissed the taller man, not being able to stand feeling apart from him in any way. They kissed and pressed against each other until Nico made an annoyed noise and smacked Percy's ass. Percy stopped kissing the other man and realized that he had been trying unsuccessfully to unbutton the jeans he still wore. Percy snickered and pecked Nico, who watched the other man easily open his fly. "That was difficult for no reason." the younger man said, and Percy shut him up with a kiss. Quickly their kisses deepened, and Percy felt Nico pushing his jeans down. He grabbed the smaller man's hips and pulled them forward, making Nico lay down. He was instantly on top, grinding against his lover and periodically trying to push his jeans further off. Being shy and leaving them on now seemed like one of his more terrible ideas.

Percy grabbed Nico's wrists and pinned them to the bed as he ravished the smaller man's mouth. He felt pressure on his forearms and found them being pushed down, forced to release Nico's wrists. Clever; Nico had looped his legs up and used them to release Percy's grasp. The sheer genius of his lover turned Percy on even more and he reached down to stroke Nico, earning a sweet little appreciative moan. He withdrew from the embrace and moved back off of the bed to finally remove his jeans. Nico's piercing dark stare made him moan a little and he found himself being pulled by the waistband back onto the bed. He tripped on his boxers and sort of fell back on top of the smaller body, but Nico was already engaging him in more hot kisses and hadn't noticed. As they moved together Nico made another frustrated noise and pushed Percy backward. The taller man hadn't been expecting it and found himself leaning over the bed.

"I'm gonna fall!"

Nico grabbed him by the back of the neck and pulled him forward again, "Chill the fuck out." he kissed Percy, "And take those fucking boxers off."

Percy understood now. Nico had punished him for taking so long to undress. He had to admit that he kind of liked the aggression. He quickly lost his last article of clothing and Nico pushed him over to lay on the bed. Nico kissed Percy's neck and chest and downward, making Percy gasp his name as he took a certain part of Poseidon's son into his mouth. As Nico sucked him off Percy gripped the sheets for dear life, watching the dark head of hair moving up and down. He loved the noises Percy was making and could tell that he was holding back a bit, so he sucked harder. "Nico! Ah!" Percy rasped, fingers diving into the younger man's hair to keep him right there, doing that. Nico of course had no intention of stopping, and stroked Percy's thighs in reassurance. The fingers in his hair pulled as Percy's pleasure intensified and his toes began to curl. His orgasm was close, and he wanted it, but at the same time he didn't want this delicious feeling to end. Nico looked up at him and Percy lost all choice as the end flooded over him. He practically levitated on the bed before falling back against the sheets. Nico sat up and winked at him before opening his mouth and pushing his tongue out, letting the fluid he had collected run down his chin.

"Not sure if that was hot, or disgusting." Percy laughed as Nico wiped himself clean with a corner of a bedsheet. "Should I be insulted that you don't swallow?" Percy continued.

Nico crawled up to lay on his chest, "Nah. I might sometime. It's just a dignity thing."

"Hmm." Percy answered. He wasn't really insulted, but he did find it to be one of the more odd quirks about the boy. Nico just snickered and kissed him.

"Ready for more?"

In answer, Percy kissed Nico passionately and then moved to lay on top of the smaller body, settling between the pale thighs and grinding their hips together. "Are you ready?" he asked quietly, feeling a strange reverence about the situation. Nico nodded and momentarily twisted away from Percy to grab a bottle of lotion from the table next to the bed. He handed it to Percy, who put some onto his hand before kissing the smaller man. It was strange; all of this was so familiar, yet both were suddenly on edge as if they'd never done it before. Nico gasped into their kiss as two of Percy's fingers found their goal. He watched Nico's face as he moved his fingers. Oh he'd missed this! The other two men he'd been with never performed the way Nico did. Percy felt shame for thinking about other people during this moment with his lover, then Nico kissed him and all wandering thoughts halted.

"I think I'm ready." Nico said in the same quiet tone Percy had used.

"You sure?" Percy asked. His lover still felt really tight. Had he truly stopped all sexual activity after the breakup? The lotion on the bedstand indicated to Percy that Nico at least jacked-off every so often. What had happened to his toys?

"Nothing is good enough." Nico said, seeming to read his mind. It creeped Percy out when he did that, "I'm sure, though."

"You are so fucking adorable." Percy said, moving his hand and positioning himself. Nico reached down and helped guide Percy inside. As he slid in, the son of Poseidon sweetly kissed the inside of Nico's left knee, watching his face for any pain. He still felt really tight, and Percy didn't want to hurt him. When Percy was fully lodged inside, Nico fell backward with a contented sigh, pulling Percy's hips forward and biting his bottom lip. He received one more kiss on his knee and then Percy slowly began to move. He kissed Nico's neck, making the other man squirm most exquisitely against him and moan a wanton, "Yeah." Percy wanted to hear that again. He slowly pulled out, earning a gasp, and then he slid in again. "Ugh... yeeeessss." Nico hissed, now gripping hard on Percy's hips, pressing himself further against the warm body. Percy kept the pace slow, drawing out every ounce of pleasure and every wonderful sound from the smaller man.

Percy watched Nico's ecstatic face as they moved together, and soon Nico gave him a look that said he needed more. Percy laid more weight on Nico, pushing him deeper inside on each forward thrust. "Percy..." Nico moaned and pushed against him, letting him know that he needed even more. Percy pushed in harder, making the younger man groan in pleasure.

"I love you." Percy said again into Nico's ear, pulling the pale hips up and pushing harder. The smaller man groaned again.

"I love you too." he said and then slowed Percy's hips. Percy took the hint and stopped what he was doing. The smaller man moved to lay on his side and beckoned for Percy to continue. Assuming that this was more comfortable for him, Percy obeyed, pushing back in and earning a delicious moan from Nico. He held Nico at his knee and his neck, and a pale arm reached up to Percy's neck to help with leverage. As they started up a new rhythm Percy almost couldn't take the beautiful pleasured faces and sounds from the smaller man. He kissed the delicate wrist pushing against him and then moved the hand at Nico's neck to hold his hip as he moved faster.

"Fuuuck." Nico moaned in pure satisfaction as Percy hit that spot. He heard the other man laugh at his exclamation and moved his arm to pinch Percy's waist. In retaliation the taller man pushed in harder and faster. Nico made a pained noise and he slowed down, bending down to kiss that panting mouth in apology. "No." the younger man whispered and Percy took that to mean that it was okay to go hard and fast again. He put both hands on Nico's hip and began to move at his earlier quick pace. "Yessss..." Nico practically purred as his eyes rolled in pleasure. After a bit he looked back at Percy, who slowed down again, but pushed in hard as he looked down into Nico's eyes. Nico's look almost said, "How the fuck do you know how to make me feel this good?" and Percy hoped to see a lot more of that. He changed the angle just a little and Nico broke the stare to moan into the bed. "Fuck that's good." he whispered, encouraging his lover. Percy loved this. He loved knowing that he was the one making Nico look and sound like that. They continued going hard and the smaller body moved around in ecstacy until at one point he pushed a hand against Percy's hips to slow the motion.

"You okay?" Percy asked.

Nico adjusted his position a little and then nodded. Percy gave a few slow thrusts to make sure and then started to go fast again, but Nico started gasping in agony, so Percy stopped again and pulled out. Nico moved back to lay on his back and beckoned Percy to settled between his knees again, "Sorry, that position was just a little too intense after so long."

Percy was a little nervous about hurting the younger man, but he also wanted to make sure they finished, so he carefully slid back in, watching Nico's face for any discomfort. Nico again fell backward onto the bed with a sigh, and as Percy started to move he made those faces the taller man loved. He began stroking himself and Percy wanted to help, but he was too fatigued at this point to hold his weight on one arm. Besides, it was kind of hot watching Nico touch himself as Percy gave him wave after wave of pleasure. Finally Nico's right knee came up and pressed against Percy, telling him to slow down once more. "Percy..." Nico whined as his body shuddered. Percy leaned down and kissed Nico through his orgasm, feeling the younger man's trembling breath against his lips. Nico held him where he was for a while as he recovered, and then finally his body went slack. Percy stroked his thighs until Nico moved up and kissed him. Percy started to move, and Nico gasped a little at his sensitivity, but not enough to warrant alarm. Percy pushed and and out several more times and then pulled out before stroking himself to completion across Nico's stomach. They exchanged tender kisses as the afterglow wore off and finally Percy laid down next to Nico.

Nico gave another contented sigh, "That was so worth five years of abstinence." he said, stretching languidly and then moving to lay against Percy's side.

"I can't believe you went that long." Percy said, holding the smaller body to himself.

Nico moved to sit on top of Percy and looked down at him, "I told you. All I ever wanted was you."

"Did you ever try with anyone else?"

"Kind of. At school there was this kid who was always trying to get up on me, so I let him take me on a date. He just wanted in my pants, though."

"Understandable. I love being in your pants."

"Yeah, but you love other things about me too."

"Of course. So how did the date go?"

Nico looked at Percy, "Not well, obviously."

"Well I'm glad it didn't work out. I always figured you fell in love and got everything I couldn't give you. Even though I hated the thought of someone else being with you, the thought of you being happy and taken care of made it all okay."

Nico's chest felt warm and his mouth curled up at one corner, "That's the sweetest thing I've ever heard."

Percy's cheeks flushed red, "Well, it's true."

Nico kissed Percy, "I love you. Seriously."

The other man noted that Nico sounded half asleep, so he chose not to comment further. Instead he just kissed Nico's forehead and closed his eyes. He felt Nico shiver and he threw a bit of blanket over them both before starting to feel tired himself. The last thing he remembered before falling asleep was Nico giving him a little peck on his shoulder.

The next morning found Percy in the shower. Nico hadn't stirred as the taller man had left the bed, and Percy couldn't bring himself to wake the sleeping angel, even if he had secretly wanted some morning shower sex. As he reached up to grab the shampoo he had to laugh. Nico had several Mythomagic figurines lined up on the window. That man was just too adorable sometimes. Percy decided that he liked showering at Nico's place. He got to use everything that smelled like his lover. It was like he was totally enveloped in Nico-ness. He toweled off and then realized that he would have to put on the clothes he'd worn the previous day. He should have waited for Nico to wake up so that he could shadow him over for some clothing. Percy shrugged and wrapped the towel around his waist to go and see if the younger man was awake yet.

Percy made his way over to Nico's side of the bed and his stomach dropped. Maybe he was just a heavy sleeper, Percy thought. He put his hand on the smaller man's back to shake him awake and his skin felt cold. Not the way Nico's skin usually was. It was a different cold; one that Percy never wanted to feel again. He moved the blanket from in front of Nico's face and his breath hitched when he saw Nico's lips were blue. He backed away a few steps and looked at Nico's motionless body. No. He couldn't be. Not again. How? Percy moved back over and smoothed Nico's hair from his face, "Please don't do this again." He said, fighting back tears.

Suddenly Nico gasped and his eyes opened wide as he sat up as if having had a nightmare. "You scared the crap out of me!" he gasped as he held a hand on his chest.

"You scared the crap outta me!" Percy said, louder than intended, "I thought you were-" he choked, "I thought you were-"

Nico blinked as if realizing something and pulled Percy close to himself, "I'm so sorry, Percy. I know what you thought." he held the taller man closely and kissed his face, "I'm sorry."

"I just never wanted to experience that again."

"I know."

Percy looked at Nico again and ran a hand down his chest before kissing him, "I love you so much, Nico."

"I love you too."

They continued just holding each other for a while, and then Nico moved to get up, but made a pained noise and fell back onto the bed.

"What's wrong?" Percy asked, his heart racing again.

"Nothing, just um... I need help." Nico said, flushing red as he looked over at Percy, who was standing next to the bed now. He held out his hand and Nico took it, grateful that for once Percy didn't question him. His feet touched the ground, but when he tried to stand up he made another pained noise and sat back down on the bed. Percy sat next to him with a comforting hand on his back. Without a word, Percy picked the smaller man up with both arms and walked over to the bathroom. He placed Nico in the tub and then drew a bath for him, handing him a towel to keep warm with until the water filled up the tub. Percy grabbed the shampoo and such from the shelf beneath the shower head and lined them up on the edge of the tub before kissing Nico's forehead and turning to leave. He heard Nico curse and then a splash, so he turned back around and saw Nico struggling to open one of the bottles. Again without speaking, Percy knelt down and grabbed the floating bottle, opening it and putting some shampoo on his hands before running them through Nico's hair. The younger man looked mortified at needing so much help, but Percy kissed him reassuringly and he began to relax. Percy wasn't sure exactly what was going on, but he knew Nico wasn't a weak person, even in this state. As Percy continued to wash his lover he finally got the courage to speak.

"Even looking like a wet puppy, you're incredibly sexy." he said with a smile.

Naturally, Nico blushed, "I'm glad you think so. Too bad you're already clean, or I'd be dragging you in here with me."

"You know I'd be perfectly fine with that."

Nico just laughed, "I know, but I'm still waking up." he leaned over and kissed Percy before stretching in the warm water, letting Percy move the washcloth over his body.

"I like it when you let me take care of you." Percy said.

"Nerd." Nico answered, but the smile playing on his lips told Percy that he agreed with the statement.

Eventually the bath was over and Nico awkwardly sat in the tub as the water drained, refusing Percy's help to get out.

"I need my stick." Nico said in explanation.

"What?"

"You know... my stick in the corner of my room."

Finally it donned on Percy what Nico was referring to, and he left to fetch the cane he had observed earlier. He came back with it and handed it to Nico after helping him out of the tub. Nico stood up a lot easier this time, but Percy noted his leaning on the cane, even though he could tell Nico was trying to hide his dependence.

"The fun part is going outside. This stick is pretty much a big yellow sign telling monsters I'm in a weakened state and to come and get me. They never learn, though." he said before pulling at the cane and unsheathing a small, sharp blade, much like a French rapier.

"You're so badass sometimes." Percy said as Nico put the sword away.

"I know. This badass needs some breakfast, though."

"Ooh, can we have waffles?"

Nico laughed, "Only because you're so excited about it." he kissed Percy again and then went over to his dresser and put some clothes on. He turned to Percy, who was still wrapped in his towel, "Oh, I forgot you don't have any clothes here."

"Yeah, I don't mind putting my old clothes on, though. I know I'm bigger than you."

"Just stay here. I'll be right back." Nico kissed Percy's forehead and pushed him to sit on the bed before disappearing into his closet. Once he left Percy looked around Nico's room. It was nice and neat, and nothing caught his eyes, so his ADHD took him to the living area. He found himself looking at Nico's desk. There were bits and pieces for jewelry on it, and a few papers. Percy felt bad snooping, but he couldn't be blamed if the papers were right there in his sight, right? He looked them over and then one caught his eye. He gently moved the jewelry making tools off of it, noting which ones were in which spot, and then picked it up to read it. As his brain struggled to put the letters in order he felt something warm and wet on the back of his neck.

"Snitches get stitches." Nico whispered in his ear as he wrapped his arms around Percy.

Percy snorted, "You have no idea what that means, do you?"

"I thought I did until you laughed at me."

"You're adorable." Percy said, setting the paper down and turning to kiss the smaller man.

"I'm not mad, by the way." Nico said between kisses.

"Good, but I'm distracting you anyway." Percy whispered before kissing down Nico's neck. The smaller man swooned and leaned against the arm of the couch, which was thankfully nearby. Percy let his towel drop to the floor and heard Nico make a wanting sound accompanied by a belt buckle being loosened. He gave Nico a gentle push and the son of Hades slid down onto the couch cushions. Percy pulled down the other warrior's pants and tossed them in the same direction of his discarded towel before crawling across the couch to lay on the smaller body. Nico was struggling with the buttons on his dress shirt.

"Damn buttons! I should have known better than to wear something like this with you around. Next time remind me to wear something easier to get out of."

"So. Adorable." Percy purred between kisses. He then unbottoned Nico's shirt about halfway before just pulling it off along with the white undershirt underneath. Nico pulled him closer, eyes already extra dark with wanting, making Percy shiver...

"So what was that paper all about?" Percy asked later, his brain returning to previous thoughts now that the blood was evenly distributed in his body.

"Hmm?" Nico asked, half asleep in the warm embrace of his lover.

"The paper I was reading. Do you believe in it?"

"Kind of. I mean, it's just like the rivers in the Underworld, yeah?"

"I guess. So, why the interest?"

"I have this theory. I'm all fucked up in the time continuum, and I'm wondering if it would help balance me out."

"What about the catch? There's always a price to pay."

"That's why I'm doing research first. I need to find and talk to Hebe first, I think."

"Well... can I come with you when you go looking for her?"

"Of course."

"Good." he pulled Nico closer on the couch, "I want to stay like this for a long time." Percy said right before his stomach growled.

Nico laughed, "Sure you don't want some waffles?"

"I'm totally fine starving to death if it means staying like this."

"Dork." Nico wiggled out of Percy's embrace and stiffly put his clothes on. He handed Percy the clothes he had brought him, "Come on, breakfast is important."

"Fine." Percy also stood and put his clothing on, taking one last look at the paper on the desk before following Nico into the kitchen.

END


End file.
